BOYVILLE 




John E.Gunckel 




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BOYVILLE 

A HISTORY OF FIFTEEN YEARS' WORK 
AMONG NEWSBOYS 

BY 

JOHN E. GUNCKEL 



ILLUSTRATED 



published by 

The Toledo Newsboys' association 

Toledo, Ohio 



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Copyrighted 1905 
BY JOHN E. GUNCKEL 

All rights reserved 



By trans 

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PRESS OF 

THE FRANKLIN COMPANY 

TOLEDO, OHJO 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page 

The president talking to the newsboys, Frontispiece 

"I am scattering hickory-nuts under this old tree 

for the children to find termorrow," . . 8 
The original charter members, .... 16 

Ready to start for the first Christmas dinner, . 24 
Where the Boyville Newsboy's Association was or- 
ganized, December 25, 1892, ... 32 
A bunch of sellers, ...... 40 

Festival Hall. Where the National Newsboy's As- 
sociation was organized, August 16, 1904, . 48 
Newsboys' Band and Cadets — ready to start for 
Washington, D. C, to participate in the inaug- 
ural parade of President Roosevelt, March 4, 

1905, 56 

"1 am an officer of the sellers' auxiliary ; get busy," 64 



"Lady, I am sorry I run away wid de money, 
"Trow de cirgarette away," 
"President, I have already licked de kid," 
Getting familiar with the headlines, 
"Dis here is de dog," .... 



64 
72 
80 
88 
88 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

(continued) 



him," 



Roll of honor — some of the boys who turned in val 

uable articles found on the street, 
The Boyville Cadets — when first organized, 
Members of the East Side auxiliary, 

"Fire-top," 

"He sweared at a lady and I punked 

Carriers, 

Carriers, 

First sale of the day, 

Lining up ready to go to church, 

The tough from market space, 

Dividing the papers, 

Two new members, 

"Tenements on the avenue." In these old buildings 

at one time, lived seventeen families, 
"I will buy from the little fellow," 
Waiting for the last edition, 
"Billy Butcher, we must have an understandin' 

which corner ob de street will you take?" 
"He was fishing in the. lake," 
Pastime — the beginning, .... 

Pastime — the finish, ..... 



Page 



^ I F you are going to do anything permanent 
I for the average man you have got to begin 
before he is a man. The chance of suc- 
cess lies in working with the boy and not with 
the man. That applies peculiarly to those boys 
who tend to drift off into courses which mean 
that unless they are checked they will be for- 
midable additions to the criminal population 
when they grow older. 

"No Nation is safe unless in the average 
family there are healthy, happy children. 

u If these children are not brought up well 
they are not merely a curse to themselves and 
their parents, but they mean the ruin of the 
State in the future." 

President Theodore Roosevelt. 



TART FIRST 



CHAPTER I. 

On the corner of one of the principal thor- 
oughfares, in a very large city, there was located, 
fifteen years ago, a small grocery store. In front 
of the building the enterprising owner displayed 
fruits, vegetables and other goods; articles that 
were particularly tempting to boys. 

In a near-by cottage there lived a very bright 
boy, twelve years of age, and familiarly known 
to every one in the neighborhood, as Jimmy, the 
newsboy. And that meant a bad boy. 

On the disappearance of an occasional apple, 
an orange, or if one of the fruit-stands was upset, 
it was declared that Jimmy did it. All fights 
around the corner originated from Jimmy. 

So bad was this boy's reputation that every 
one in the ward, including several Sunday-school 
teachers, was kept busy looking for a favorable 
opportunity to give Jimmy, what they thought he 
deserved, "a good licking." 

The groceryman was not slow in letting his 
customers know how bad Jimmy was. 

He was kicked, lectured, preached to, and a 
dozen times a day was pushed ofT the corner. 



4 BOYVILLE. 

He was abused because he annoyed men and 
women by his misbehavior. 

No one ever stopped to ask this boy where he 
lived ; what about his parents, his home life, or to 
see if there was really any good in him worth try- 
ing to develop. The bad was visible, and the 
people seemed to delight in their vain efforts to 
correct him by censures and kicks. 

There was no question about Jimmy being 
bad, about as bad as any street-boy would become 
who had his own way, and, whose parents permit- 
ted him to go and come when he pleased, and to 
associate with bad company, particularly boys 
older than he was. 

Jimmy was a leader of a gang of little toughs 
who always met at the corner, in the evenings, 
and delighted in making it unpleasant for those 
who lived within hearing distance. He was 
strong, quick, and could throw to the ground any 
boy of his size, and never hesitated trying a 
much larger boy. He was the terror of the cor- 
ners. 

Yet with all his bad reputation, no one ever 
caught him doing anything for which he could 
be punished under the state laws. 



BOYVILLE. 5 

Circumstantial evidence was all the grocery- 
man could produce at any time he was accused. 
The boy who "squealed" to the groceryman about 
Jimmy had to remain away from the corner un- 
til he thought that Jimmy had forgotten it. 

Jimmy was a typical newsboy. 

He was not happy in fine clothes. He did not 
use the many slang phrases which so frequently 
become a part of a street-boy's life and enjoy- 
ment, but he had everything else. 

He had a small route, perhaps thirty custom- 
ers, for morning and evening papers, and when 
he had delivered his papers, he would hasten 
down town, get a new supply of the latest edi- 
tions, and join the boys in selling on the streets. 

He was an early riser, like all carriers, and 
long before the neighbors thought of getting up 
he was out on the street, and in all kinds of 
weather. 

The station agent from whom he procured 
his morning papers said: "There is not a more 
faithful boy in the city, from a business view. 
But he has to be served first. He has a way of 
his own in pushing ahead of the crowd and is al- 
ways among the first on his route. He pays cash 
for what he gets, but still, he is a bad boy." 



6 BOYVILLE. 

A gentleman who lived in the neighborhood, 
and frequently called at the grocery store, be- 
came interested in Jimmy. There was something 
naturally attractive about the boy. There was 
a twinkle of his black eyes that was really fas- 
cinating. 

"I would like to see what is back of that ac- 
tivity," said the gentleman, one day to the gro- 
ceryman. 

One afternoon, late in the fall, the gentleman 
was standing on the corner waiting for a car 
when the groceryman called him. 

"You said you would like to see what Jimmy, 
the newsboy, was made of. He is up to some 
mischief now. He just bought a sack of hickory- 
nuts, and I'll bet a cooky he is making some one 
unhappy." 

Two blocks away was a large lot, with a high 
fence around it. Scattered about the lot were a 
dozen or more hickory trees. The gentleman saw 
Jimmy climb the fence, walk to the farther side 
of the lot, and when under a heavy foliaged tree 
he stood for some moments looking in every direc- 
tion. Finally he began to scatter hickory-nuts 
under the tree. Very carefully seeing that they 



BOYVILLE. 7 

were dropped all around this particular tree. 
Sometimes he would take a handful of leaves and 
cover over a lot of nuts. To the gentleman this 
was an unusual transaction, so he walked around 
to the big gate and followed a path across the 
heavy grass, and went to Jimmy. 

"I have a curiosity to know what you are 
doing," said the gentleman, "and if you have no 
objections I would like to have you tell me." 

Jimmy took him by the hand, that he might 
hasten towards the sidewalk, and when away 
from the tree, he said. 

"You see, mister, termorrow is Saturday. 
There's no school. Across the street lives a whole 
lot of little boys and girls, and some of the boys 
don't like me very well, but that doesn't cut any 
figure with me. They comes over here every day 
after school and particularly on Saturday and 
hunt for hickory-nuts; but these old trees don't 
bear any more; they's dead. But that one over 
there, with the leaves, sometimes has hickory- 
nuts, but this year nary a nut is on the old tree. 
So I bought these here nuts an' scattered 'em all 
around the ground, an' termorrow I'll sneak 
around the fence and watch the girls an' boys 
gather them. Won't they be happy?" 



8 BOYVILLE. 

"I should think they would," replied the man. 

"They are real hickory-nuts, too," added 
Jimmy, "I blowed in fifteen cents at our grocery 
store. If you want to you may come termorrow 
an' I will guarantee you will see the happiest 
bunch ever gathered under a hickory-nut tree. 
Will you come?" 

"Well, I should be delighted to come; and I 
will be there before you will," replied the gentle- 
man kindly. 

"You see," said Jimmy, "I cannot come un- 
til I deliver all my papers, an' that'll be about 
eight o'clock. If you get there before I do, don't 
you ever tell who put the nuts under the tree, will 
you?" 

"I promise you, Jimmy, I will not only keep 
it to myself, but I will not even go on the lot, until 
you come." 

A few words about Jimmy and his home, and 
they parted as friends. 

"Under the hickory-nut tree termorrow 
there'll be a dozen happy girls an' boys, an' some 
of the boys don't like me," rang in the ears of the 
gentleman all during the evening and frequently 
in the night. 

What a sermon, sowing and reaping. 




I AM SCATTERING HICKORY-NUTS UNDER THIS OLD TREE 



FOR THE CHILDREN TO FIND TERMORROW. 



n 



See Page 7 



CHAPTER II. 

Saturday morning was an ideal autumn day; 
a day children delighted to go into the woods 
after hickory-nuts. 

A few moments before eight o'clock the gen- 
tleman was slowly walking around the great lot 
when he saw Jimmy running at full speed down 
the street towards him. 

Under the great trees were a dozen little boys 
and girls, and the air was filled with their merry 
laughter as they excitedly gathered into their bas- 
kets the hickory-nuts that Jimmy had so kindly 
dropped for their pleasure and happiness. 

"They tell me, Jimmy, you're a bad boy," said 
the gentleman as they sat on a stump of a tree, in 
sight of the children. 

Jimmy made no reply. 

"Well, I don't care what any one says," added 
the gentleman, "I don't believe it. Your little 
act with the hickory-nuts has taught me a lesson 
I never learned in books. No boy would do that 
unless he has some good qualities in him. I feel 
honored to have this privilege of seeing those chil- 
dren so happy this morning, and to think who did 
all this. Jimmy," and he took his little hand in 



io BOYVILLE. 

his, "I want you to make me a promise — I want 
you always to be my friend. What do you say ?" 

This was something Jimmy never heard of 
before. He was accustomed to being kicked, and 
censured, and for a man to ask him to be a friend 
was, what he afterwards called, "a new deal." 

"Sure thing, I will," he said frankly. 

"Now I want you to come down to my office, 
Monday after school, and we will talk over some- 
thing that I want you to do for me." 

'Til be there," replied Jimmy, and after a 
moments thought he asked. 

"And can I bring some of my friends with 
me?" 

"Certainly, that is exactly what I want you 
to do. Bring your gang, all your friends, par- 
ticularly the little toughs, and when you come in- 
to my office don't let any one stop you from see- 
ing me." 

"Oh, don't be afeared o'that, we knows as 
how to get there." 

A few other things were talked about and 
they separated for the day. 

As the gentleman rode down town he thought 
of the events of the morning, of the life of a news- 
boy. These little wiry, nervous street boys, alert 



BOYVILLE. ii 

of eye, and lithe of limb, who flock the principal 
thoroughfares of our great cities at almost all 
hours of the day. 

Newsboys and bootblacks, boys whom the 
world seems to have forgotten. By peculiar con- 
ditions these boys are used to being at odds with 
the world. It need not be told that our newsboys, 
as a general rule, as people know them, are re- 
garded as a swearing, stealing, lying, dishonest 
lot of young criminals, and these qualifications 
are recognized adjuncts to their business. With 
these conditions is it not a wonder that any of 
them ever succeed in working their way into the 
ranks of respectibility? People who curse and 
kick them, as they did Jimmy, never stop to think 
that these neglected newsboys, of today, sharp, 
shrewd and keen, may be the thieves, the burg- 
lars, the highwaymen ; or the successful patriotic 
citizens of tomorrow. 

No one will dispute the fact that, the street- 
boy is surrounded on every hand by degraded and 
vicious men, with drunkenness regarded as a 
desirable condition, and the indulgence in drink 
only limited by the ability to procure it. 

Among many, robbery is regarded as a fine 
art, and the tribute of praise bestowed upon ras- 



12 BOYVILLE. 

cality. If christian people do not find time, amid 
the rush and roar of the city, in their mighty 
struggle for wealth, to lend a hand to lead him 
out on the highway of honest success, what is to 
become of the street-boy? 

Is it not true that many a boy is bad because 
the best part of him was never developed? 

It is not that a newsboy is so much worse than 
other boys, but simply that the other half of him 
didn't get a chance. 

If you, dear reader, will take time to get into 
the real life of a boy, as the gentleman did with 
Jimmy, you will be surprised, as he was, at what 
you will discover. How quick he is to see an oppor- 
tunity to do something bad, and when discovered, 
his conscience brings the blush of shame to his 
cheeks. Take boys like Jimmy, the leader of a 
gang of toughs, his acts on the public highway, 
his language, his ragged clothes all indicating ne- 
glect and evil designs, yet get his friendship, his 
confidence, and he will prove, as did Jimmy, the 
best and most faithful friend you ever had, not 
only in his youth, in his teens, but long after you 
have forgotten him. 

No matter how bad the boy is, how miserable 
his environment, that great spark of good, that 



BOYVILLE. 13 

something, no one can explain its power, its in- 
fluence, is still there. To get into touch with that 
life, to draw out the goodness of heart and make 
it a tangible blessing to the boys of our land, is 
the work every man and woman ought to try to 
do. It was this object the gentleman had in ask- 
ing Jimmy and his friends to meet at his office. 
He felt that opportunities of this nature come but 
once in a life time. 

George Eliot wrote: "The golden moments 
in the stream of life rush past us and we see noth- 
ing but sand. The angels come to visit us and 
we only know them when they are gone. How 
shall we live so as at the end to have done the 
most for others and make the most of ourselves." 
We become good ourselves only in the measure 
that we do good to some other soul. In Jimmy, 
the newsboy, no one stopped to see what was 
sleeping under the cover of extreme mischiev- 
ousness. They were always looking for bad and 
they found it. Neglect is the mother of more cal- 
amities than any other sin, and who are ne- 
glected more than the newsboys? 



CHAPTER III. 

On the following Monday morning, at the 
appointed hour, Jimmy, with eight other boys, 
was at the office of his newly-made friend. 

It was an interesting picture, an exciting 
scene. 

Noisy, loud talking, several answering ques- 
tions at the same time, some turning over books, 
papers, investigating everything in sight. Sharp, 
schrewd, busy at every moment, quick to an- 
swer any question and the replies always sat- 
isfactory, and to the point. 

•'Don't you know anything," said Jimmy to 
a friend, who was trying to investigate how a 
typewriter was made, "let that meechine alone." 

It was soon in evidence that Jimmy's word 
meant something, for each boy obeyed him with- 
out saying a word, except a little grunt of dis- 
satisfaction, to show he hated to obey. Not one 
of the eight boys had clean hands. Not one a 
coat with a button. Three safety-pins held hold- 
ing positions in some of their coats. Not one used 
a handkerchief, and the slang would puzzle many 
a lawyer. 



BOYVILLE. 15 

As one of the boys lost his cap he said : "Some 
kid five-fingered it. — took it with his hand." It 
was an interesting crowd. 

"Well, you are on time, Jimmy, and I see you 
have brought some of your friends with you," 
said the gentleman. 

"These is part of de gang," said Jimmy. 

"Do you boys all want to be my friends, just 
the same as Jimmy is?" 

They replied, "Sure thing; cert. Yes'm." 

These friendly words brought the gang closer 
to the gentleman's desk. And more papers were 
disturbed. The ink was investigated and one of 
the boys wanted to know why it wasn't red ink. 
Another poked his finger in the ink stand and 
made black streaks down the smallest boy's face. 
The gentleman was shown quite a number of 
articles they had in their pockets. Nails, buttons, 
marbles, pieces of slate-pencils, etc., all of which 
had to be admired. 

"Say, you, mister," said a nine-year-old dirty- 
faced, bright-eyed boy, "I had trouble gittin' here. 
De con. wus onto me an' I had to take two lines 
'fore I rode into de office wid out blowin' in a 
cent." 



16 BOYVILLE. 

"Well, quit your wasting words," said Jimmy. 

The boys gathered around the gentleman, and 
he ^aid : 

"My ! what good you boys can do in this world 
with all of your push, and energy, your hustling, 
your good health, you boys can turn up some- 
thing, and I'm going to help you do it. How 
would you like to help me make all the men and 
women who buy papers of you learn to love you. 
Learn to speak kindly to you?" 

"Aw, de peoples don't care fur us." said a boy 
Jimmy called "Indian." 

"Well, I don't know about that. There is one 
thing certain there can be no harm in trying. 
The trouble is, people don't know you, and you 
won't let them get acquainted with you. Let's 
make a start. First, I want to know if every one 
of you wants to be a friend of mine? You do, 
that's a good start. And whenever you see me 
on the street, it doesn't make any difference what 
I am doing, or who I am talking to, will you come 
to me and say, good morning or good evening?" 
They all agreed. 

"And another thing, when you boys are down 
town and should you hurt yourself, or get into 
some trouble, lose your papers, your money, or 




THE ORIGINAL CHARTER MEMBERS. 



See Page 14 



BOYVILLE. 17 

some one frightens you, I want you to call on me, 
and I will try to help you. Notice, I say when 
you are in trouble, because when you are doing 
well and everything comes your way, you need no 
assistance. You can take care of yourselves. 
What do you say, boys, to this ?" 

They all promised and were glad of the oppor- 
tunity. 

This was the first intimate talk with the gang. 

Two days later, while the gentleman was very 
busy in his office, into the room came one of the 
little visitors followed by some of the gang, he 
was limping and crying as if his heart would 
break. He paid no attention to any one in the 
office but made directly for the gentleman, who 
seeing him, excused himself from his business 
friends and said to the boy, 

"Well, now, what has happened to you?" 

"A man shoved me off de sidewalk into de 
gutter and me foot struck a piece of glass," he re- 
plied, between sobs. His foot was bloody, and 
the more blood he saw the louder became his 
cries. He was taken into a near-by hotel, his 
foot carefully washed, a handkerchief tied over 
the wound, his tears wiped away, and when back 
into the office he said: 



18 BOYVILLE. 

"I thank you, sir." 

He picked up his bundle of papers, all pain 
had disappeared, the smiles again came to his 
pretty face, and with his friends, left the office, 
singing a popular air. 

The result of this little act of duty added fifty 
new friends. 



CHAPTER IV. 

A week later, a little colored boy entered the 
office crying. He was known on the street as 
Midnight. 

"Tree boys trowed me down in de alley, an' 
swiped me papers." 

Four boys came with him. They wondered 
what would be done. While talking with him, 
Jimmy dropped in. Not quietly but made every- 
body get out of the way. 

"I know the three kids," said Jimmy, "and 
I'll go after them." 

So Jimmy left on his own accord. In fifteen 
minutes he returned bringing two boys. 

"There, you kids," he said, "give Midnight 
back his money fur de papers you stole." 

It was done. Midnight's eyes resumed their 
natural brightness, and he left happy, thankful 
to Jimmy for his interest. 

To the gentleman this was a revelation. The 
power one boy can have over a gang of boys 
ought to be used for good. Such vital energy, 
such quick action, such nerve and endurance, all 
this must be used for doing good, for helping each 



20 BOYVILLE. 

other. My ! what a boy who has influence among 
his fellow companions, can do. If each boy could 
be placed on his honor, each boy aiming to do the 
best he can to uplift his associate, trying to cor- 
rect the little evils from which spring so many 
crimes, how much happiness, how many useful 
lives would result. If men would try to instill 
into the young hearts of our boys, our newsboys, 
because they are tempted more than any other 
class, a spirit of trust and love, instead of a spirit 
of fear and hate and revenge, what a happy un- 
selfish world we would have. Suppose these 
newsboys, the boys who are so often accused of 
being bad, would be treated as Christ treated 
wrong-doers, not as criminals, but as misdirected 
and misguided boys, putting everything in their 
way to encourage them to do right. Suppose 
they were warned of danger, were propped up 
when about to fall, and personal efforts were 
made to find the good in each boy and to cultivate 
it as a husbandman would his garden — pulling 
out and destroying the weeds, removing the 
germs of disorder, and keeping a watchfull eye 
over all even until the ripening of the fruit. 
What would be the result? The gentleman gave 



BOYVILLE. 21 

the subject considerable thought and concluded 
to try the experiment. 

From the material at command it was sur- 
prising how many little good things sprung up 
where least expected and from soil considered as 
absolutely worthless. Like some products of the 
garden, good came from unexpected places. 

Taking advantage of conditions and cir- 
cumstances, the number of friends increased so 
rapidly that when cold weather set in, over a 
hundred little hustling friends of the street were 
added to the list. 

Winter came with snow and ice and cold 
winds, making it hard for the carriers to deliver 
their papers before the breakfast hour. The little 
sellers were heard only a short time after the 
newspaper editions were out, and they were com- 
pelled to seek warm places. It was noticeable 
that the saloons of the city were the only places 
open to these boys seeking shelter and warmth. 

There were several gentlemen in the city 
heartily in sympathy with the new movement 
among the newsboys, and among them was a gen- 
erous clothier who presented, through the gentle- 
man, fifty overcoats to be given to the poorest 
newsboys. 



22 BOYVILLE. 

To select fifty of the most deserving, for the 
entire hundred were in want, was a very difficult 
task, especially as those interested had but little 
experience with boys of the street. 

But Jimmy came to the rescue and he and the 
gentleman began to deliver the coats. When 
forty-five coats were given there remained twenty 
boys who were equally as needy as the others and 
there were but five coats left. How to select five 
boys from this number was the question. 

Jimmy accomplished it. 

The next day the gentleman was asked to go 
into the alley in the rear of the post-office where 
he met about sixty boys. Twenty of the poorest, 
those whose names were booked for coats, were 
asked to "stand in line against the building." 
Jimmy asked them to name five of their number 
who were very poor. 

"You see, Kids," said Jimmy, "we have only 
five coats and if you select the five boys needing 
them it is all right." 

The boys quickly named the lucky sellers. 

Midnight, Peanuts, Bluster, Swipsey and 
Bundle were unanimously chosen and the orders 
were given to them. 



BOYVILLE. 23 

This was a great surprise to the gentleman, 
for what he had imagined would be a difficult 
problem was satisfactorily settled in a very few 
moments by the boys. 

"Boys, come close to me," said the gentleman. 
It was difficult for him to stand as they crowded 
so closely around him. 

"I am surprised at your way of doing busi- 
ness. This is one of the greatest things I ever 
saw. It shows you boys can take care of your- 
selves and I believe you could manage worse 
things than dividing up a lot of coats. For this 
nice little act of yours I am going to givt you a 
first-class Christmas dinner — " 

Not another word could be heard. That 
quiet, listening bunch of boys was quickly 
changed to a turbulent, noisy crowd. 

Several policeman came into the alley to see 
the cause of the noise. It wasn't common every- 
day cheering, but yelling. The invitation was ac- 
cepted — it seemed by a thousand voices. 

"All right, boys, get your little friends and 
meet me at the post-office steps Christmas morn- 
ing at eleven o'clock." 

"Say, Mister," said Swipsey, a bootblack," 
only sellers and bootblacks in this deal ?" 



24 BOYVILLE. 

"Yes, only sellers and bootblacks this time, 
and I don't want a good boy in the crowd. I 
want only boys who are bad. I want all the gang 
and their friends. I want poor boys, but they 
must all be newsboys. That is, they must sell 
papers or shine shoes, and not a boy must come 
in dress suit." 



CHAPTER V. 

Christmas morning came without a cloud in 
sight. The sun was warm. It was an ideal 
Christmas day. The boys were to meet at eleven 
o'clock, but fifty newsies were playing around the 
corners of the post-office as early as seven o'clock 
and at ten o'clock they came in groups of five and 
ten from every direction. When the gentleman 
appeared he was considerably embarrassed at the 
noisy reception. The boys formed in line by twos 
and as the hundred and fifty marched down the 
street yelling at the tops of their voices the good 
people of the city stood on the sidewalks wonder- 
ing what had broken loose. The boys when near 
their destination, arriving at the top of a hill, 
without warning made a break for the bottom, 
like a flock of sheep scattering down a hill. They 
ran screaming as only boys can. At the door of 
the building, where they were to have their 
Christmas dinner, they were met by six police- 
men, who held them at bay, requiring them to go 
up stairs single file. 

The tables presented a sight that even grown 
people considered, "one of the most attractive lay- 
outs ever seen in the city." 



26 BOYVILLE. 

Flowers, fruit of all kinds, with "a mountain 
of turkey" and candy "to burn," greeted the boys. 
In just five minutes after the newsies were seated 
there was not an orange, an apple, a banana or 
a piece of candy in sight. All disappeared as if 
by magic. Ice cream and pie were first to re- 
ceive attention. Turkey and chicken were later 
in demand. In half an hour the tables were 
cleared of everything that looked good to eat. 
Not only were the pockets of the boys filled with 
oranges and apples but their shirt-waists and 
pant-legs were bulged out with the things that 
pleased them most. Only six fights were re- 
corded worthy of notice. 

An entertainment followed the dinner. It was 
thekind and character they could understand and 
appreciate. Interesting and earnest talks by 
newspaper representatives, were sandwiched be- 
tween acts. The object of the gathering was well 
defined by the members of the press. Their gen- 
tleman friend wanted the sellers and bootblacks 
to start a Newsboys' Association. This was re- 
ceived with the usual noisy approval. He wanted 
an association which the boys themselves would 
run; make their own laws, elect from their own 
numbers the officers, and everything connected 



BOYVILLE. 27 

with the running of the association to be under 
their supervision. On that Christmas day one 
hundred and two boys were enrolled in the new 
association, and their gentleman friend elected 
president, with Jimmy as vice-president. 

The president was requested "to get busy," 
and, "prepare rules an' such things as we can 
work by." 

After this meeting, Jimmy's friend was 
known as "Mr. President." 



TART SECOND 



CHAPTER VI. 

A dozen or more newsboys can be seen at al- 
most any hour of the day, dodging here and there 
around the corners, down alleys, or playing in the 
rear of the circulating offices of the great dailies. 
In all kinds of weather they will be found at their 
posts, prompt in delivering their papers to sub- 
scribers, or upon the streets crying the most im- 
portant of the many head lines of the transactions 
of a day. Would it be possible to get this noisy, 
hustling crowd of boys together and gradually to 
bring this great power, this great force, into a 
channel for doing good? To form an association 
where the boy would be "de whole thing" with 
only the hand of man to guide where it was 
necessary? To simply push the button? In 
short, would it result in doing good among the 
class of boys who are neglected in more ways 
than men and women imagine? Reflection 
resulted in adopting a name that would imply 
everything — 

"Boyville." 

It means work with and among newsboys by 
the boys themselves 



32 BOYVILLE. 

The Boyville Newsboys' Association. 

It was at once organized, and in its preamble 
of incorporation was written the Golden Rule. 
In the formation of Boyville it must not be un- 
derstood that its mission was to draw good boys 
from good homes ; but rather to give help to bad 
boys, come from where they may, when they ap- 
pear on the streets — away from home influences. 
Whether they come from the most palatial resi- 
dences on the shaded avenues, or from the 
crowded hovels of alleys, from poorly kept ten- 
ements, or even those who are compelled to sleep 
in public stairways, barns, or wherever a boy can 
creep under shelter without being noticed. 

With one hundred and fifty-two newsboys, 
sellers and bootblacks, enrolled as active members 
for life; with an unwritten constitution and laws 
that were made to suit conditions, and that were 
subject to change at every meeting; with meeting 
places in alleys, in vacant store-rooms, theatres 
or wherever boys could meet on short notice, 
Boyville was started. Trustees were chosen from 
newspaper representatives, and leading citizens, 
but the detail work, the real work among the 
boys, was placed in the hands of the president — 
to make a success or failure of the project. It 




Ill,' I II 

iff 1 1 1 



WHERE THE BOYVILLE NEWSBOYS' ASSOCIATION WAS 
ORGANIZED, DECEMBER 25, 1892. 



See Page 27 



BOYVILLE. 33 

was first found necessary that the president 
should keep in personal daily touch with every 
boy, not in bunches but each boy, sellers and boot- 
blacks. A membership card was issued. This 
card simply let the public know the bearer was a 
member of Boyville, Newsboys' Association. For 
this, and all benefits of the association, the boy 
paid nothing in money. No assessments of any 
kind. Nothing that would permit even a dona- 
tion. He was simply required to obey the rules — 
not to swear, to steal, to play craps, a game so 
common among sellers, or smoke cirgarettes. 

There were but three officers, the president, 
vice-president and secretary. The two latter, 
newsboys. Jimmy the newsboy, and Johnny the 
bootblack, both leaders of gangs. These two boys 
were told that the success of the association de- 
pended entirely on their work. They had charge 
of the one hundred and fifty-two members. Their 
first orders were : "that each boy must watch the 
other boys and correct a fellow member for doing 
anything that would disgrace the association. 
They must not wait to see an officer to punish a 
member for stealing, swearing or playin' o'craps. 
They must not depend on what they heard, but 



34 BOYVILLE. 

on what they saw. Take the law into their own 
hands, and punish on the spot." 

The end of the first month found twenty- 
eight membership cards taken from boys who had 
violated the rule, "you must not steal," and nine 
taken from boys who smoked cigarettes. The 
fines were from five to fifteen days. When the 
fines numbered fifty membership cards, the presi- 
dent made arrangements with a theatre to admit 
the members, permiting no boy to enter unless he 
showed his membership card. The boys who 
were fined, and did not have their cards, were 
dealt a pretty heavy blow, for boys. A little ban- 
quet was given and again no boy admitted to the 
hall without showing his card. This occasional 
hit had its effect in reducing the cards in the 
hands of the president to an average of about ten 
a month. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The membership increased so rapidly and the 
detail work became so extended, that it was found 
necessary to increase the number of officers, from 
two boys to eleven. The constitution and by-laws 
provided a Central Association, which was offi- 
cered by boys who had experience upon the 
streets, as sellers and carriers. The vice-presi- 
dent gradually became familiar with the objects 
of the association, and the work among the boys. 
He was a typical newsboy, a good street-seller 
and his power was felt among the boys, especi- 
ally those who were inclined to be bad. A secre- 
tary was elected from the ranks of the carriers. 
He was a good worker. The treasurer was a 
boy who received the unanimous vote of the as- 
sociation. The money he received was small do- 
nations, from benevolently-inclined friends. This 
was used for purchasing flowers for sick boys, 
etc. The real work of the association depended up- 
on the executive committee of five members. Like 
most organizations, the committee-work centered 
in the chairman. The chairman of this commit- 
tee proved to be one of the most active and faith- 



$6 BOYVILLE. 

ful boys of the association. He left nothing un- 
done in his efforts to unravel a difficulty or in cor- 
recting and building up a boy who had done 
wrong. The four boys on his committee were un- 
tiring in their efforts for the success of the as- 
sociation. This committee was in constant touch 
with the president. 

The membership committee of three boys 
looked after old as well as new members. Each 
applicant had to be submitted to them for ap- 
proval. 

With these eleven officers, all boys under four- 
teen, the association began life. The constitution 
and by-laws embraced in its power and force sim- 
ply one aim, one object, to do good among the 
boys. To do it effectively, and make the results 
lasting. To build up, never pull down; to en- 
courage honesty, to watch and warn a boy. 

The work among the street boys became more 
interesting as the months rolled on, and, at the 
end of a year the membership of Boyville had in- 
creased to two hundred and fifty sellers and boot- 
blacks. This number not only included boys who 
sold papers every day, but those who sold extras, 
and on Saturdays, and special occasions, and boys 
who sold magazines or other periodicals. The 



BOYVILLE. 37 

association began to grow and become recognized 
by the boys generally, and new sellers appeared 
upon the streets daily, all anxious to join. The 
working officers remained the same — but two 
boys doing the detail work. 

Two years passed under the new officers and 
rules. The Boyville Newsboys' Association be- 
gan to be felt in the community. Compliments 
were frequent concerning the good work. The 
association had increased its membership to fif- 
teen hundred and twenty boys. A little army, 
and all working harmoniously together for each 
others good, and in trying to assist and build up 
the association. Doubting men and women, and 
the world is full of them, were perfectly satisfied 
of the success of the boys governing themselves, 
as was shown almost daily in the work. The boys 
solved a problem never thought of being tried by 
men and women who had long experience in 
working among boys. 

The success of Boyville increased in propor- 
tion to the work done by the young officers. 

People began to look upon a newsboy with 
some consideration, and as a necessary adjunct 
to the growth of a city. His politeness, his hon- 
esty, his general deportment attracted special no- 



38 BOYVILLE. 

tice, and the boys received many kind words and 
increased attention. 

The association began to assume such mag- 
nitude that it was found necessary to divide it 
into auxiliaries, to get a suitable badge, and a 
membership card defining more explicitly cer- 
tain rules. 

Boyville was therefore divided into five auxil- 
iaries — the sellers, north, south, east and west 
branches, with the constitution of the Central. 
Each auxiliary had eleven officers, making a total 
of sixty-six officers — all boys. In the annual 
election of officers great interest was taken by 
the boys, many displaying political "wire pulling" 
qualifications that would equal the work done by 
great political bodies. 

These sixty-six officers were scattered in all 
parts of the city, making it almost impossible for 
a boy whom they wanted for violating a rule of 
the association, to escape their notice. 

The membership card told the story of what 
was expected of a member. It is herewith given 
for that purpose. 



BOYVILLE. 39 



No. 

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT 
is an active member for life of 



The Boyville Newsboys' Association. He does not ap- 
prove of swearing, lying, stealing, gambling, drinking 
intoxicating liquors, or smoking cigarettes, and is enti- 
tled to all the benefits of said association, and the respect 
and esteem of the public. 

Signed by the officers. 

With these rules, and simple pledge, if pledge 
it can be called, in the hands of each newsboy, 
the reader can imagine the good that must result. 

It does not say the holder is guilty of any of 
these evils, neither does it imply that he must not 
swear, etc., but it does say, and each boy is 
strongly impressed with the fact, that he does not 
approve of these things, and will not permit a 
fellow member to violate a single rule. 

A boy who says I do not believe in swearing, 
while he may swear himself, will take great pleas- 
ure in checking some one else, and often bumps 
up against a strong proposition when he finds 
some other boy, probably of greater strength, 
watching him, and waiting anxiously for an op- 
portunity to correct him. If not corrected with 
a simple warning it may end in a fight. 



40 BOYVILLE. 

A boy makes an application for membership. 
He is recommended by a friend. He is approved 
by the membership committee. In case there is 
something wrong with the applicant, particularly 
if he steals, or swears, or smokes cigarettes, he 
is sent with a note to the president, or as is more 
frequently done, one of the officers reports in 
person giving the president a history of the appli- 
cant and the failing he has. 

The new member knows nothing of this, in 
fact he gives expression to his thoughts and says, 
after he receives his credentials, "It's dead easy." 
It is, as far as the business he has with the presi- 
dent, but the moment he leaves the president's 
office, the officers living in his district are notified 
of the trouble this boy gives, or bad habit he de- 
lights in keeping up. 

Even the boys with whom he associates be- 
come familiar, through methods of their own, 
with his failings, and go after him with all the 
authority of an official. 

With all the interest taken by the boys to cor- 
rect a member for violating one of the rules, and 
the severe methods adopted by them to correct a 
known evil, it is seldom a boy will appear against 
one of his associates as a witness, 



BOYVILLE. 41 

A gentleman whose sympathy was with the 
work, brought a boy to the president whom he 
accused of using language, "unbecoming a crim- 
inal." As witnessses he brought with him four 
newsboy companions. 

Imagine the gentleman's surprise to hear the 
boys say: "Mister, you 're dreaming through a 
pipe. He didn't swear." The boys did not even 
show signs of embarrassment but faced the 
charge with perfect ease. No argument could 
get the boys to testify against their friend. 

The gentleman left disgusted with newsboys. 

"I will let you boys settle this among your- 
selves," said the president. 

They went upon the street, into the alley. 
Half an hour later the newsboy accused of swear- 
ing returned. Timidly he approached the presi- 
dent and said. 

"I swore but I will never do it again, and I 
mean it, I am sorry." 

At the door the president saw four little faces 
peeping through the window. They were watch- 
ing their friend. 

"Where is your badge?" asked the president. 

"The boys took it from me, they're out there," 
he replied. 



42 BOYVILLE. 

They were beckoned to come in. 

"Did you do the right thing?" one of the boys 
asked the accused. 

"Yes, didn't I Mr. President?" he answered, 
looking for sympathy. 

"Yes, boys, he is all right. I understand 
everything," said the president. 

The badge was returned to the boy and they 
left the office talking and laughing. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The first public appearance of the boys, aside 
from auxiliary meetings, annual Christmas din- 
ners, attending theatres, entertainments, base-ball 
games, picnics, etc., and where the boys made a 
favorable impression upon the public, was the 
Sunday afternoon meetings held in suitable halls, 
during the winter season. These were carried on 
successfully and profitably for several years, un- 
til the available halls were too small to accommo- 
date the increasing membership. 

The idea of Sunday afternoon meetings sug- 
gested itself from what the boys said. 

"If we had meetings of our own we would not 
attend Sunday afternoon theatres." Three boys, 
newsboys, were seen coming out of the back door 
of a saloon on Sunday afternoon, and to the ques- 
tion asked by the president, why they spent their 
time in the saloon, they replied they had no other 
place to go to get warm. 

"Why not go home?" 

"We are not wanted at home." 

At the Sunday afternoon meetings the enter- 
tainments were given by the different Sunday 



44 BOYVILLE. 

schools of the city, and occasionally by some so- 
ciety, all kindly volunteering their valuable ser- 
vices. Splendid music, interesting talkers, little 
girls and boys in recitations or songs who always 
made a hit among the newsies. In time the news- 
boys became so interested in the work that many 
of them concluded that they could "do a stunt or 
two," and the program was divided in two parts. 
First, the Sunday-school or society, followed by 
the newsboys who introduced their best speakers, 
singers, etc. 

"These Sunday afternoon gatherings," to 
copy from an editorial in one of the daily news- 
papers, "have improved the tastes, aroused the 
better natures, stimulated the ambitions, revealed 
new and nobler ideals and altogether, have opened 
a new world of more sober and serious plans for 
future success of the bright little business men." 

One of the most trying incidents that ever 
came to the attention of the president was at one 
of the Sunday afternoon meetings held in a thea- 
tre, when was brought to the rear of the stage 
two newsboys so drunk that a policeman had to 
hold them from falling. 

They had a bottle of whiskey between them. 
In broken sentences they told where a keeper had 



BOYVILLE. 45 

sold them the liquor, Sunday morning, and how 
the men in the saloon dared them to drink all the 
whiskey in the bottle. It wasn't necessary to 
drink all, a few swallows made them dizzy. "We 
got funny and noisy, an' the man pitched us out." 
They staggered towards the opera house to at- 
tend the newsboys' meeting, when a policeman 
assisted them in the house. Immediately upon 
their entrance their friends hustled them out of 
sight behind the stage. The president at once 
called the association officers and turned the two 
boys over to them. Quickly the officers removed 
their badges. It was difficult to restrain some of 
them from "giving the boys a thorough thrash- 
ing." Through the influence of the boy, Jimmy, 
the sympathy of the newsboys' turned quickly to 
the two boys and a determination for revenge on 
the saloon keeper followed. The newsboy officers 
took the two little fellows to their homes. In a 
few days they reported to the president that the 
boys received such a severe punishment from 
their parents that they would be laid up for a 
month. The saloonman was visited by two of 
the oldest experienced officers. They were re- 
ceived with kindness, and after talking over the 
matter for some time it was mutually agreed that 



46 BOYVILLE. 

the boys were to notify all members that they 
must keep out of the saloon, as the proprieter 
promised not to sell liquor of any kind to news- 
boys and to refuse to sell liquor to any of the 
father's of the newsboys — "when he thought they 
had enough." 

For a month the boys watched that saloon, 
and if a newsboy entered, his badge was taken 
from him. The saloonman took greater interest 
than the boys, for he absolutely refused to sell 
liquor to any one whom he thought had "all he 
could carry." 

Today this saloonman is respected by the 
newsboys and many good deeds are credited to 
him. 

"He is simply trying to lift up a man instead 
of pulling him down," said an officer. 

The good that has been accomplished from the 
Sunday afternoon meetings, commonly called 
"The Popular Sunday School," cannot be esti- 
mated. Thousands of people attend these meet- 
ings. They are pleased because the newsboys do 
the entertaining. There isn't a great deal of 
preaching, but there is enough. "The object is 
not to give so much of that sort of thing," says 
an editorial in one of the great dailies, "but what 



BOYVILLE. 47 

preaching they get is wholesome. The boys get 
a chance to laugh and clapp their hands. They 
are permitted to be boys on Sunday just as on 
week days. There is good music, too. It is apt 
to be a patriotic air, or a popular song. A sweet 
little girl sang The Good Old Summer Time/ 
and the newsies joined in the chorous. It wasn't 
classical, but it was good. Instead of shooting 
over people's heads the musicians aim at their 
hearts. The preaching isn't a tiresome string 
of 'does' and 'don'ts,' 'musts' and 'mustn'ts'. It 
is mostly plain talks from plain people who know 
they are talking to boys whose veins are bulging 
with rich, red human blood. But the boys them- 
selves furnish most of the program. Boys who 
sell papers, who shine shoes, on the streets, get 
up before big audiences, make speeches, sing 
songs, 'recite pieces' and do other interesting and 
instructive stunts. And hundreds of these little 
newsboys sit in the auditorium, conduct them- 
selves like gentlemen and thoroughly enjoy the 
entertainment. An interesting fact about this 
association, is that its membership comprises the 
rich as well as the poor. If a rich man's son car- 
ries a route he is in the same boat with the poorest 
lad that peddles papers on the street. There are 



48 BOYVILLE. 

boys who have rich fathers, boys who have poor 
fathers, boys who have industrious fathers, boys 
who have drunken fathers, and boys who have 
no fathers at all. There are Protestant boys, Cath- 
olic boys, Hebrew boys, white boys, black boys — 
and all are full-fledged, honored members of the 
same newsboy family, which is run on the prin- 
ciple of equal rights for all and special privileges 
for none. Rich boys are not debarred. There is 
a desire to save them from wealth's temptations 
and make good citizens of them in spite of their 
handicap. The poor boys who sell papers to help 
keep the family from starvation are generous and 
are willing to let the rich in on the ground floor. 
So it is a pretty broad and big Sunday-school. 
And a good one. Every boy who belongs to it 
is better for his membership. He is taught to 
travel on his own merits and not lean on his papa. 
He is taught that he must paddle his own canoe ; 
and that he will be judged by what HE does, not 
by his father's success/' 




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CHAPTER IX. 

So great became the interest in the success of 
the Boyville Newsboys' Association that many 
additions were made to add to its prosperity, 
through which the association became favorably 
known throughout the United States. 

A newsboys' band of thirty-eight pieces was 
organized, the sellers being in the majority. The 
expense of the band was borne entirely by one of 
the enterprising dailies. The musical talent, dis- 
covered by an efficient leader, in the newsboys, 
was remarkable. In less than a year they were 
able to play some of the most difficult pieces, and 
the general deportment of the boys surprised all 
who saw them. 

The organization of the South-end Cadets 
was an event which proved to be one of the most 
successful additions to the association. Their 
fine personal appearance, their remarkable drill- 
ing, their good behavior at all times and on all 
occasions, with the band, made Boyville exten- 
sively and favorably known as the home of the 
best newsboys in the world. 

Nothing in the history of the work among 
the newsboys was as important as the interest 



jo BOYVILLE. 

taken by the various churches, regardless of sect, 
through their ministers, in holding special Sun- 
day evening meetings for the members of the 
association. All through the city the auxiliaries 
were invited, and particular pains taken in the 
preparation of a program suitable to all. When 
the boys were first invited, the expression was 
frequently heard: "Gee wiz, we gets front rows." 
The illustration shows the boys marching to one 
of these evening entertainments. 

The value of these meetings cannot be esti- 
mated. The good attendance, the close attention, 
the good behavior of the boys made them many 
friends, and people began to look more kindly 
upon the newsboy. 

With these improvements in the street-boy 
and the success of the association naturally, the 
president received many letters from men and 
women all over the land seeking information 
about the detail work of the association. 

With the view that this work niay eventually 
be extended throughout the country, the presi- 
dent conceived the idea that a convention of news- 
boys and their friends might be held and a Na- 
tional association organized through which much 
good could be accomplished. He therefore opened 



BOYVILLE. 51 

correspondence with the managers of the World's 
Fair, St. Louis, Mo., with a view of getting their 
consent and approval to set apart a day to be 
known as Newsboys' Day. This met with prompt 
reply and a most hearty endorsement of the offic- 
ials, and newspaper representatives generally 
throughout the United States, and resulted in 
selecting Tuesday, August 16, 1904, as News- 
boys' Day. 

That the convention might prove a success, 
particularly among men who are familiar with 
work among newsboys, the aid of the circulating 
managers of the newspapers was asked. At the 
annual convention of the National Association 
of Managers of Newspaper Circulation, held at 
the World's Fair June 12, 1904, the president of 
"Boyville" appeared and explained the methods 
adopted in this association. He satisfied them 
that, not only did the association accomplish much 
good, through its efforts to influence boy's work, 
but it also proved to be a great aid to the news- 
papers in increasing circulation. He therefore 
asked for endorsement and support of the mem- 
bers of this organization in forming a National 
Newsboys' Association. 



52 BOYVILLE. 

In recognition of this a resolution was unan- 
imously passed endorsing the movement; and a 
committee was appointed to co-operate with the 
trustees of the Boyville association with the view 
of not only making Newsboys' Day a success but 
in organizing a National Newsboys' Association. 



CHAPTER X. 

On the afternoon, of Tuesday, August 16, 
1904, in the magnificent Festival Hall, at the 
World's Fair, where were present hundreds of 
newsboys, representing nearly every State in the 
Union; and newspaper representatives from the 
leading papers of the country, there was organ- 
ized The National Newsboys' Association; offi- 
cers were elected and instructions were given 
them to perfect the organization and adopt the 
plan so successfully carried on by the Boyville 
Newsboys' Association, and having for its object 
the extension of the work in every town and city 
in the land that there may be established fra- 
ternal relations among newsboys everywhere in 
making them an important part in the business 
world, honored and treated with respect by all 
good citizens. 

While the details of the organization were 
being worked out, the officers were instructed, by 
the trustees, to issue membership cards and 
badges and to organize auxiliaries in cities and 
towns wherever desired. 

A year has passed since the organization of 
the National Newsboys' Association, and the offi- 



54 BOYVILLE. 

cers have established auxiliaries in many cities 
and towns in the United States with inquiries 
from foreign cities. 

In the discussion regarding the formation of 
the constitution etc., it was agreed that an or- 
ganized association of newsboys with an enroll- 
ment of twenty-five boys would be received into 
the National Association as an auxiliary, and, in 
towns where there were a less number than 
twenty-five newsboys, each boy could become 
members under the trustees of the National As- 
sociation. 

No recognition of the work accomplished by 
the National and Boyville Associations was so 
important and no greater good can be ac- 
complished than the official approval and endorse- 
ment by the officers of the greatest railroads in 
America. 

It is an undisputed fact, railroad detectives 
as authority, that a majority of the young men ar- 
rested for stealing merchandise from freight cars 
were once boys who sold or waited for newspa- 
pers at the stations of our railroads. 

The officers of the Boyville Association have 
on file congratulatory letters from prominent 
railroad detectives heartily approving of the work 



BOYVILLE. 55 

accomplished in trying to teach the boys who sell 
or wait for papers at the stations, honesty. One 
detective wrote: "You are saving the railroads 
thousands of dollars worth of property and a mil- 
lion dollars worth of trouble." 

The railroads who have approved of the work 
have permitted the officers of the National Asso- 
ciation to issue circular letters to their agents in- 
structing them to allow no newsboy to sell or 
wait for newspapers at the stations unless he is a 
member of the association and wears, while on 
duty, the official badge. This simply means that 
newsboys to sell or wait for papers at railroad 
stations must not swear, steal, lie, smoke cigar- 
ettes or gamble. The trustees, feeling that the 
good work accomplished among the newsboys 
would be still further advanced by bringing the 
National Association to public notice, decided 
that the expense of sending the newsboys' band 
and cadets to Washington, to take part in the in- 
augural parade of President Theodore Roosevelt 
on March 4, 1905, would be justified. 

Correspondence with the inaugural commit- 
tee proved one of the pleasant experiences, for 
the recognition by the chief marshall and other 
officials of the civic grand division was quickly 



$6 BOYVILLE. 

and heartily given. The work of. completing the 
detail arrangements, necessarily irksome, was so 
cordially conducted that the trustees felt more 
than ever justified in sendmg the newsboys' band 
and cadets, and the vice-presidents of the various 
auxiliaries, in order that Boyville could be offi- 
cially represented. 

"Sixty-five newsboys let loose in the city of 
Washington during the inaugural ceremonies 
would cause the men in charge more trouble and 
unhappiness, and disgrace to the city represented 
than the honor gained," was the public declara- 
tion of men who were not familiar with what 
could be done by newsboys. 

Satisfactory arrangements were made in all 
details. 

To show the activity and self-responsibility 
of a newsboy, while the boys were enroute they 
stopped at Cleveland. Two hours were given 
them to go where they pleased. In less than an 
hour the sellers said: 

"We have done the town, been all through the 
public buildings and we're ready to go. We were 
treated like reporters." 

In Washington thirty minutes after their 
arrival at headquarters, the president called a 




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to W 

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A P 



BOYVILLE. 57 

dozen boys to him and tried to tell them how to 
find their hotel ( ?) from a given point. 

"Aw, what you trying to give us. We ain't 
asleep. We've been round the square, and say, 
president, we found a first-class eating place. 
It's out o' sight." 

Two hours after the boys were settled, a 
majority of them had been through and around 
nearly all of the public buildings, and were ready 
"to do the White House." When requested to 
report at a stated hour and place, every boy was 
there on time and to the minute. 

One of the greatest lessons the president 
learned from the trip, from these newsboys, was 
the perfect control they have of themselves. 

They were always happy. Always contented 
and satisfied with conditions. Never complain- 
ing or borrowing trouble showing that worry is 
a thing unknown to newsboys. The loss of a hat, 
of a piece of baggage, an order changing contem- 
plated plans, all were received with the same won- 
derful patience and good cheer, which seem part 
of the nature of a newsboy. The boy without a 
cent in his pocket was happier than the boy whose 
parents supplied him with more money than he 
needed. Wherever these boys appeared on the 



58 BOYVILLE. 

streets of Washington they were little gentle- 
men, an honor to the city who sent them, an hon- 
or to themselves and, an honor to the great 
country they represent. On the train en route 
Governor Myron T. Herrick, in his address to the 
boys said: "I consider it a very great honor to 
the state of Ohio to send from its commonwealth 
such a bright lot of boys, and boys who repre- 
sent our little street merchants, boys who are des- 
tined to be the good men of the future." 



CHAPTER XL 

Newsboys are students. From the necessity 
of knowing the special happenings of the day, as 
soon as they receive their papers they quickly 
read the head lines. First, they can be seen to 
slowly spell each word, but in a very short time 
they read without assistance. It is one of the ad- 
vantages to boys selling papers, it is an educator. 
To be successful, they must become familiar with 
the news of the day and be able to cry it to induce 
men to purchase. 

After the inaugural parade, when most peo- 
ple were tired, the newsboys, at their headquar- 
ters, "chipped in" and raised enough money to 
send one of the boys "down town to purchase a 
copy of every paper sold in the city." The boy re- 
turned with New York, Philadelphia and Wash- 
ington dailies and a dozen sellers were seated on 
the cots, each earnestly reading, and commenting 
on leading articles. One little seller said: 

"Say, look here, fellers, Teddy has started to 
work, he made an appointment. I guess he means 
business." 

Is there another organization whose mem- 
bers, when attending a convention, are so inter- 



60 BOYVILLE. 

ested in the news of the day as to send one of 
their number — "down the avenue to purchase a 
copy of each of the dailies the town takes ?" 

From the highest officers in the land; from 
the committee in charge of the various divisions ; 
from the foreign as well as the Washington news- 
papers, praise and compliments were given 
these newsboys for the almost perfect marching, 
in the parade. 

They said: 

"The newsboys' band and cadets made the hit 
of the day, in the parade, and made thousands of 
friends throughout the United States * * * 
President Roosevelt was immensely pleased with 
the newsboys and could not say enough of the re- 
markable appearance they made. The News- 
boys' Band and Cadets, sixty-five in all, which 
led the third brigade of the civic grand division, 
are the first newsboys in America to be recog- 
nized in an inaugural parade. The band thirty- 
eight pieces, is uniformed in red with black trim- 
mings; the cadets, twenty, with red and white 
trimmings. The cadets march under the leader- 
ship of Drum-Major Francis McGarry, the 
youngest drum-major in the world, and a little 
fellow who has to take a hitch-step every other 



BOYVILLE. 61 

step in order to keep up with the procession. The 
general appearance and manly conduct of the 
young gentlemen elicited many favorable com- 
ments. They were an object lesson of a very re- 
markable character, which is calculated to arouse 
in them a higher degree of patriotism and love for 
their country/' 



TART THIRD 




I AM AN OFFICER OF THE SELLERS' 



auxiliary; get busy. 




LADY, I AM SORRY I RUN AWAY WID DE MONEY." 

See Past 68 



CHAPTER XII. 

The reader will observe that when Boyville 
was well organized no boys were admitted to 
membership except those who sold newspapers 
or shined shoes. But later, after many years of 
work, incident after incident came to the presi- 
dent of the wrong-doings of the carriers who oc- 
casionally sold extras. Those boys came from the 
best families and much was expected from them 
by the sellers. But some of them proved to be 
very bad boys. The following is one of a number 
of incidents that induced the president to include 
the carriers in the association. 

A very kind lady, living in the heart of the 
city, and who was a subscriber to one of the dail- 
ies, reported to the president ; "a boy who carried 
my paper and whom I owed eighteen cents, has 
skipped with a dollar. He did not have the change 
and asked permission to cross the street to get it. 
I saw him run down the street as fast as his little 
legs would carry him. I knew he was running 
away and would not return. It is not so much on 
account of the money, that I call your attention 
to this, as it is to correct the boy, and save him 
from future wrong doing." 



66 BOYVILLE. 

She was asked to describe the boy. As it was 
dark this was difficult. 

"But I did notice," she said, "that he had on 
a very bright pink necktie." 

This was the first instance she knew of the 
boy being dishonest. He had always delivered 
the paper promptly, never missing a day. 

"But, a big new dollar was too much for him." 

Immediately upon the receipt of this informa- 
tion the president called his best officer and re- 
peated the story. 

"A pink necktie," he said. "Let me see, there 
is a pretty lively little fellow that comes down 
town occasionally and poses on the corners. I 
know him. He always wears that necktie." 

Inquiry among the sellers soon gave the offi- 
cer all the information necessary as to where the 
boy lived. He was not a member of the associa- 
tion. He was a carrier. He was supposed to be 
good. A dozen boys knew the pink necktie 
carrier. 

Following is the official report of the officer 
who went after the boy. 

"I found he lived over a mile from the place 
where he delivered the paper. It was a swell 
part of the city. When I went there I asked for 



BOYVILLE. 67 

the boy. He was in bed. I told his mother I 
wanted to see him on some very particular per- 
sonal business. He was tucked up in a nice warm 
bed, and I hated to disturb him. When I asked 
him if he had received a dollar from a lady for 
papers, he covered his head with the clothes. I 
knew I was right. I told him to get out of bed, 
and go with me to see the lady, return her money, 
and beg her pardon. I had him dead to rights for 
he didn't want his mother to know what he had 
done. I went down stairs and told his mother I 
had some very important things we boys wanted 
him to do. She hesitated a little and finally let 
him go. He dressed, and when on the way I told 
him he must get down on his knees and beg the 
lady's pardon ; he cried and said, 'I will go home 
before I'll do that.' All right, I said, if you want 
your mother to know what a little rascal you are, 
how you steal money, we'll go back, but if you 
want to be a little man, and make things right, 
with my help, well and good. When we reached 
the house, we had to go up a stairway, and the 
boy threw himself on the steps and said, 'Oh, I 
can't do this,' but I said you could steal all right, 
so come on. Up the stairs we went, and I knocked 
at the door. I thought that boy would faint. 



68 BOYVILLE. 

'Oh, I can't do it,' he cried, when the door opened 
and the lady stood before him. She understood 
the situation. She lifted him to his feet. I pulled 
him back, and said, 'No, my lady, he must get 
down on his knees, return you the dollar, and beg 
your pardon/ It was a tough job for that kid, but 
he did it ; and after it was all over he said, 'My ! 
but I feel better, I'm glad this is over.' On the 
way he told me he had spent forty cents and had 
but sixty cents left to pay the lady, so I gave him 
the money to make the dollar, and he is to pay me 
five cents a week until all is paid up. On the way 
home he was the happiest lad I ever saw. The 
lady said it was the slickest piece of detective 
work she ever heard of, and wished to thank you 
and the boys for starting the association." 

A few days after this little incident, the 
boy was brought to the president, by the officer, 
requesting that he become a member of Boyville. 
His name was signed to an application and when 
the officer asked him how he felt after returning 
the dollar, he looked a little ashamed, but quickly 
said : "You bet, I'll never do any thing like that 
again. It isn't safe in this city, the kids find a 
fellow out when they are bad. I'm glad we fixed 
it up all right." 



BOYVILLE. 69 

He gradually paid back the money the officer 
advanced. Two years have passed since that 
eventful night, and today the boy is one of the 
most efficient officers in the Boyville association. 

The following editorial is taken from one of 
the city dailies relative to the pink necktie story. 
It reads. 

"The story explains how well the officer did 
his work. There is a lesson for boys and men, 
too, in this little story. It shows that policemen 
and jails are not necessary when boys and men 
know how to do right. No policeman, judge or 
jury was needed to straighten out this difficulty. 
Newsboy government did the work. It got the 
woman her money, and taught the boy with the 
pink necktie a lesson he will never forget. He 
didn't have to be arrested or go to jail. The 
public will never know who he is. He will not 
be further disgraced. Now, why do these boys, 
officers of this association, do this? simply be- 
cause they are proud of the reputation of their 
association. They have learned that the asso- 
ciation's reputation is made up of the reputations 
of its members. They have learned that one dis- 
honest act by one newsboy reflects on all news- 
boys and on the organization. So they insist 



70 BOYVILLE. 

that all members must be honest and protect the 
association's good name. It isn't fear of the po- 
licemen or jails that makes these boys honest. It 
is the fear of their own conscience and the opin- 
ion of their comrades. They want to be able to 
walk along the street with their heads up, and to 
look every honest man squarely in the eye. They 
know they are as good as the richest man in town 
if they are honest. They are learning that it pays 
to do right, and not because of what may happen 
to them as a result of dishonesty. If men would 
follow the same plan the world wouldn't need its 
thousands of jails, reformatories and penitentia- 
ries. If men would only feel that each one of them 
is a member of the human society, association or 
organization, and that wrong committeed by one 
is a reflection on all, it would save heartaches and 
trouble in this world." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Do you believe a boy that is good at home, 
one who is cared for and loved as we often 
see an only child, could possibly do anything bad 
on the streets, away from home influence ? 

A neatly dressed boy, a carrier, whose parents 
"wanted him to learn the trade of the street, to 
give him self-reliance and business tact, and all 
that the street teaches without much effort," 
when through with his little route of carrying 
papers insisted upon going, "to the heart of the 
city and selling papers on special occasions, ex- 
tras." 

Before Boyville was fully organized the presi- 
dent's attention was called to this little fellow — as 
being "a perfect nuisance. He was impudent, 
frequently used profane language and was one 
of the worst boys on the street." At that time the 
association had but one (boy) officer. He was 
told to watch this boy. See that he was corrected. 
"And, above everything not to lose him because 
he was bad." Within a month the officer re- 
ported "the boy's parents were among the best in 
the city, good christian people, attending church 



72 BOYVILLE. 

every Sunday, and the boy a regular prize-winner 
for perfect attendance at Sunday-school. When 
this boy was away from home, out of sight of his 
parents — he was a little terror." 

"Well, what did you do with him?" was asked 
the officer. 

"I takes his papers, an' shows him as how to 
sell 'em. How to say thank you when he sells to 
a gemmen or a ladies. And how's not to be the 
whole thing when on the street working. He cut 
out swearing de furst thing. He was easy doing, 
all he wanted wus guidin." 

"What did he say to your work?" 

"When I puts twenty cents in his hand, an' 
says this is yourn, he gets wise, he gets next to 
a good thing and is now working on de square. 
He is de boss seller on de street an' no boy kin 
sell on de corners and swear, or steal. He fights 
'em. He does." 

That same little boy, who was given a warn- 
ing by a fellow companion with a little authority, 
today receives a salary of eight hundred dollars 
a year in an important commercial position. 

In every city of our land there are hundreds 
of boys like this "good boy at home," who on the 




TROW DE CIGARETTE AWAY. 



See Page 74 



BOYVILLE. 73 

street surprises their most intimate friends by 
their wickedness. 

The newsboy cannot gain admission to many 
of the boys clubs, debating clubs, athletic clubs, 
and is often debarred from many of our great- 
est christian associations, because he is a being 
within himself, he stands alone in his class, a 
creation of his own acts and deeds, and goes upon 
the street at that age when environment molds 
his future, and generally molds it bad. 

A question is often asked, what would become 
of a boy if he were left to himself, with no train- 
ing, no guidance, no education. A boy of the 
street, who is dead to home influences, or worse, 
who is driven out to make a living for himself by 
heartless parents or guardians, or unfortunate 
conditions of life, and there are hundreds of them 
in every city, becomes a power in himself. For 
evil, first. "For the heart of the sons of men is 
fully set in them to do evil." If left alone the 
evil will get the upper hand. The street teaches 
irregular habits and restlessness. 

The following incident will show how diligent 
were the boys, not officers, in watching their com- 
panions. 

Two little boys, ages nine and twelve, saw a 



74 BOYVILLE. 

fellow member standing in an alley, behind a 
pile of store boxes and enjoying a cigarette to 
his great delight. He was afraid to appear on 
the street as the boys were watching for such 
cases. He was a boy about fifteen years of age, 
rather stout and independent, but a staunch mem- 
ber of the association. He might have used his 
strength to great advantage in arguing with the 
two boys who attacked him as soon as discovered. 

"Say, Mike, youse knows it's agin the rule 
to smoke dem cig'rettes." 

"Dat's all right. If I wants to smoke, I 
smoke, see? No one sees me in the alley. I 
don't smoke when I sells me papers." 

"Aw! comes off, youse knows de rules. Cut 
it out. Trow it away. Youse knows our presi- 
dent don't wants youse ter smoke 'em. Cut it 
out. Trow it away." 

This persuasive talk or "bluff" as the smoker 
declared, had but little effect until the two boys 
began to take off their coats. When donned for 
the prize ring, the boys walked to the violator, 
presenting a bold front and again demanded that 
the cigarette be thrown away, and promise made 
that he would never smoke again. 

"What youse goin' to do?" he said, backing 



BOYVILLE. 75 

up closer to the building. "We will trow you 
down, take your badge frum youse an' take it to 
the president" 

The big boy stood quiet for some moments, in 
the mean time about thirty newsies had gathered 
around him, each yelling — "trow it away." 

"I haint lookin' fur no trouble," he finally 
said, and threw the cigarette in the alley. 

"We's only doin' you a good turn," said the 
nine-year-old newsy. 

"It's all right. I was only tryin' to see if you 
would stop me. I'll cut it all out. I will never 
smoke again." 

That boy did not have to be watched. He was 
good and kind to his little friends, and proved to 
be one of the best boys on the street. Two years 
later, when he graduated from the junior grade, 
in one of the ward schools, he came to the presi- 
dent, saying that his mother was poor and sickly 
and he had to go to work. He was sent to a 
wholesale house where was wanted a good hon- 
est boy. 

The first question asked Mike was: 

"Do you smoke cigarettes?" The president 
will never forget the manly, prompt reply. He 
was given a good position, and that boy today is 



76 BOYVILLE. 

traveling for a firm in Cleveland, Ohio, at a big 
salary. The increased interest in the detail work 
taken by the boys themselves encouraged the 
president to believe that he was still on the right 
road to build these little street-boys up for good, 
not only for themselves but for doing good 
for others. Another case of interest in an un- 
usual way of "dom' a good turn/' A bright- 
eyed, red-faced boy, ten years old, came running 
into the president's office, one evening, almost 
out of breath, and after clearing the way through 
a long room, he stood before the officer, eyes 
sparkling with interest. He had something im- 
portant to say. His elbows were bare, his pants 
torn, his cap merely a piece of cloth, with a rim 
strong enough to hold it in place. His name was 
Bluster, receiving it from the boys on account of 
his blustering manner of doing things. 

"Say, pres.," yelled Bluster. "I want author- 
ity to lick a kid." 

That was a strange request. While the presi- 
dent was thinking what to say he added. 

"I must have permission fur de gang's after 
me. Dey 're on me track." Not desiring the 
gang to enter the office and create a scene, con- 



BOYVILLE. 77 

sent was given for Bluster to use force, if neces- 
sary to defend himself. A smile of satisfaction 
came over Bluster's face. A smile that indicated 
that he had taken advantage of the president, and 
was now about to glory in it. After a moments 
thought he said. 

"Say, pres., I already licked him." 

"Who and what for?" was asked with con- 
siderable surprise. 

"Fur swearin." 

Before he could explain the details of the 
case, in rushed eight or ten boys, all talking at 
once. Bluster never smiled when the boys de- 
clared he wasn't an officer and had no business 
to "take the law into his own hands." 

"That's all right," put in Bluster, "ain't we 
supposed to work fur each others good? Well, 
an' wasn't I 'tendin' to my own business on de 
corner. I wus standin' there crying all about 
de big fire, when a man f rum de other side of the 
street calls fur me to come over. I starts an' so 
does Swipsey, I beats Swipsey, an' sells de man a 
paper, an' what does Swipsey do? Does he go 
about his business ? No, he told the man to go to 
hell and used other swear words an' I saw our 
association wus receiving a black eye. It's no 



78 BOYVILLE. 

use to preach to Swipsey, de only way to bring 
him to his thinking is to lick him. He knows as 
well as youses that its agin de rules to swear. So 
I punched him. I turned him an' rolled him over 
until he cried enuf, an' promised he would not 
swear again. Then de gang came after me an' 
I runned to you." 

The boys still declared he had no right to pun- 
ish Swipsey without permission from the presi- 
dent. Quick as flash Bluster said: 

"Say, pres., didn't I have permission?" 

The president could do nothing but back Blus- 
ter up. He had given him full authority. At 
this juncture, Swipsey made his appearance. His 
hair disheveled, face and hands dirty, and clothes 
in a terrible condition. Swipsey listened to Blus- 
ter's story with a great deal of patience. He 
looked guilty. 

"All we want to know," said the leader of the 
gang, "is whether we can punish a boy for vio- 
lating the rules, even if we are not officers." That 
was a leading question, and experience had 
taught the president that it was a very wise thing 
to have any boy punish a member, and in his own 
way. The only provision made was that no badge 
must be taken away from a boy by a non-officer. 



BOYVILLE. 79 

Where a boy cannot be corrected by a fellow 
member, he must submit the case to an officer. 
This was agreed to and the boys were satisfied 
with the method used by Bluster. The two boys 
were made a little present, and they all left in 
their usual happy mood. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The more experience the president had with 
the street-boys, boys who spent most of their time 
in selling papers or shining shoes, the greater 
his desire to keep in close personal touch with 
each boy. He had learned that it was not wise 
to censure a bad boy, to punish a boy who had 
violated any of the rules. That belonged entirely 
to the officers. 

Some of the best suggestions for gaining the 
most good came from the boys, and boys whom 
the general public would ignore, pay no attention 
to. The boys were working out their own sal- 
vation. Solving the boy problem themselves. 

The strongest argument for self-government, 
among boys, was solved by the boys, the sellers. 
This was when they began to bring to the presi- 
dent money and valuable articles they found on 
the streets, and the sincere, earnest request, in 
every case, "to please find the owner — it doesn't 
belong to me." 

It was through the honesty of one of the hust- 
ling sellers that this new work was started, which 
became part of the great work and was carried 




PRESIDENT, I HAVE ALREADY LICKED DE KID." 

See Page 77 



BOYVILLE. 81 

on so successfully, and to such an extent that 
hundreds of valuable articles, from fifty cents in 
pennies to a diamond necklace, were found and 
returned to the owners. The following incident 
was the starting point. 

A stranger gave a little seller, what he sup- 
posed was a new bright penny, for an evening 
paper, and passed on. The boy renewed his work, 
and a few moments later another gentleman pur- 
chased a paper, giving the boy a dime. In count- 
ing out nine cents, as change, the seller handed 
the man the new penny he had just received from 
a stranger. The customer said: 

"My dear son, this is not a penny; it is a five 
dollar goldpiece." 

"I didn't know it, sir", replied the boy. "If 
you will please to hold my papers I will run after 
the man and try to find him — this isn't mine." 

Around the corner the lad went at full speed. 
Up and down the street he looked but failed to 
see his man. He returned very much disap- 
pointed. 

"He's gone," he said, "here's your change — 
nine cents." 

During this little talk a dozen or more news- 
boys gathered around the man and when they 



82 BOYVILLE. 

learned what had happened several of the boys 
said: 

"Harry, what you goin' to do with the mon. ?" 

"Our president will tell us what to do, come 
on," replied the little merchant. 

Off the crowd started down the street, around 
the corner and a noisier lot of boys never entered 
the president's office. 

Each of the twenty boys present wanted to 
explain what he knew about the transaction. 

All the details of how the seller received the 
money, and how hard he had tried to find the real 
owner were gone over several times. 

The president complimented not only the 
boy who received the gold, but the boys who were 
so deeply interested in trying to find the owner. 
An appreciative present was given to the boy, 
and it was understood that every effort possible 
would be made to find the owner. When it was 
first advertised a generous clothier, a lover of 
newsboys, presented the boy with a suit of clothes. 
After advertising thirty days and no owner claim- 
ing the five dollars, it was given to the boy. 
Nothing ever happened in the neighborhood 
where the newsboy lived that created such an 
excitement. The newsie posed as an honest boy, 



BOYVILLE. 83 

and was complimented by men and women, as well 
as being a hero among the boys and girls. Its 
effect was far-reaching, and did good not only 
to the boys, but it had a most desirable effect 
upon the people. 

More particularly from this incident than 
any other did the newsboys "get next" and be- 
gin bringing to the president everything they 
found. Among the articles brought to him with 
instructions to find the owners, were diamonds, 
watches, money, in amounts ranging from fifty 
cents to eighty dollars ; rings, robes, hats, gloves, 
valuable papers, badges of all kinds, handker- 
chiefs, money-saving banks, hundreds of ad- 
dressed stamped letters, pictures, pocket-books of 
all kinds, keys, etc. 

Among the live things the boys brought to 
the office was a dog. One afternoon, late in the 
autumn, four newsies walked into the president's 
office, talking and laughing, as they always do, 
and one of the boys, being "soaking wet," led a 
little woolly dog who seemed to enjoy the fun as 
well as the boys. 

"My! how did you get so wet?" asked the 
president. "And what have we here?" 

"A man trowed de dog into the river. He 



84 BOYVILLE. 

tried to drown him. I jumped into de water 
and saved him." 

"Yes, president," said the hero, "I thought 
it would please you to save the dog's life." 

Of course it pleased the president, and the 
boys agreed it was a very brave act. This little 
incident had its effect upon the boy, and they al- 
ways looked upon him as a great fellow, and it 
wasn't long until they elected him to an impor- 
tant office. 

It is a noticeable fact that newsboys have a pe- 
culiarly natural way of drawing, what they call, 
tramp dogs to them. Many a newsboy has been 
seen caring for a poor dog, who had either lost 
its owner or was hurt. 

Sympathy is aroused very quickly. Often a 
poor, worthless dog has been taken into a seller's 
favorite lunch-room and given a square meal. 
From a boy who jumped into fifteen feet of water 
to save a little dog, something might be expected. 
He was watched. At one of the regular meet- 
ings of an auxiliary he showed the metal he was 
made of by introducing the following preamble 
and resolution, and spoke so strongly in its favor 
that it was passed unanimously. 



BOYVILLE. 85 

"Whereas, It has come to our notice that boys 
throughout the city, and boys, too, from our swell fam- 
ilies, are killing the song birds in the little patches of 
groves within the city limits, by the use of the Flobert 
rifle; therefore be it 

Resolved, That the members of the Boyville News- 
boys' Association bitterly disapprove of this wanton 
slaughter of our song birds, and we, therefore, pledge 
ourselves to do everything in our power to stop boys, 
whether members of this association or not, from killing, 
in any manner, these birds." 

In his closing remarks he said: "If we ex- 
pects people to show us kindness we must also 
do something what's right. And what can we 
do better'n protect the dumb animals. Let us 
show, what we are trying to get, kindness, jus- 
tice and mercy. ,, 

A short time after the adoption of the above 
resolution one of the trustees attention was called 
to a member, a boy eleven years of age, who was 
very much worked up over the acts of some of 
his associates, not members of the association. 
The boys had made a trap and were trying to 
catch the robins that made their summer homes 
in the yards along the street. 



86 BOYVILLE. 

The little boy always told his mother his 
troubles and in this case went to her for advice. 
She told him she would pray that God would tell 
the birds not to go near the trap. He seemed 
satisfied, but went away deeply buried in thought. 

A few days later he was sitting on the fence, 
at his home, when the trustee passed. Knowing 
of the incident he asked the boy about the trap. 

"Well, the trap was set all right," he said, 
"and my mother prayed hard, asking God to 
strengthen the instinct of the birds so they would 
keep out of danger — not go near the trap." 

"Did God answer your mother's prayer?" 
asked the gentleman. 

"Sure thing He did," the newsy quickly an- 
swered. 

"Why were you so certain?" 

"Because when it got dark I went to the barn- 
yard and busted the trap all to pieces. There was- 
n't enough wood left to make a tooth pick." 

The trustee slowly walked away saying to 
himself : 

"Action was needed with prayer." 



CHAPTER XV. 

The individual interest in the monthly aux- 
iliary meetings developed into schools of instruct- 
ions. The boys began to learn how to debate, 
how to make a motion, to discuss any subject. 

The vice-presidents of each auxiliary took per- 
sonal interest in the details of the work, and kept 
the various committees busy. 

The reports at each meeting showed how well 
the boys had the affairs of the association under 
control. In the meetings, the entertainment fea- 
tures were very interesting, from the fact that 
the boys themselves prepared the program. If 
it was necessary to secure talent, the executive 
committee required each boy, beginning with the 
officers, and then taking the names as the boys 
were registered in alphabetical order to show 
what he could do. First a boy, a bashful newsie, 
was required to "step forward and make a bow," 
and after several pretty rough introductions of 
this nature, it was always found that the victim 
began at once to prepare something for the next 
meeting. First, he would commit a very short 
piece, perhaps two lines, always selecting some- 



88 BOYVILLE. 

thing of a comical nature. Then later, of his own 
composition. After a few efforts he became mas- 
ter of the platform, and was generally over anx- 
ious to do something. 

It was surprising the different talents un- 
earthed by this method. Musical turns, good, 
sweet singers, short and long recitations, orig- 
inal dialogues, and many "new stunts," as termed 
by the boys, when surprised at what someone 
produced. 

The trustees always took advantage of this 
work, and did everything to encourage it. The 
talent thus discovered, and trained, in the auxil- 
iaries, was used in the Sunday afternoon meetings 
to great advantage and honor to the boys. 

At one of the Sunday meetings a very serious 
carrier asked the president: "How can a boy 
avoid being bad if he don't know what bad is ?" 

"How do you know bad money?" asked the 
president. 

"I don't know bad money, I know good 
money." 

A newsboy is never at a loss for a reply to 
any question, and knows something about any 
subject discussed in our daily papers. This boy 
further surprised the president by saying : "Those 




GETTING FAMILIAR WITH THE HEADLINES. 




DIS HERE IS DE DOG. 



See Past 83 



BOYVILLE. 89 

who are thoroughly skilled in navigation are as 
well acquainted with the coasts of the ocean, with 
the sands, the shallow places, and the rocks as the 
secure depths in the safest channels, and good 
boys must as well know the bad that they may 
avoid it as the good that they may embrace it." 

This boy occupied a front row for many 
months in all entertainments, and when a speaker 
interested him he paid very close attention. One 
time a very good minister was talking over the 
heads of the boys, preaching a sermon they could 
not understand. This little fellow, with his ever 
serious look, cried out: 

"Say, mister, can't you cut some of that out?" 

It had its effect, much to the embarrassment 
of the good divine. 

It is one of the most difficult things in the ora- 
torical world for any one to entertain newsboys. 
A speaker must not talk over them. He must 
become as a child and talk as a child, and he will 
be surprised to see what a good effect it has upon 
the boys. One time a very nervous boy, a seller 
from the avenue, became quite noisy and restless 
in the seat he generally occupied. The president 
observing this asked him if he would like a seat 
in the front row. 



90 BOYVILLE. 

"Sure thing, I'll 'tend every Sunday if you 
give me this seat/' pointing to a chair next to 
a post, where the president imagined he wanted 
to rest his head. 

"It doesn't make any difference what boy oc- 
cupies this seat," said the president to "Front 
row Art," as he is called, "I want you to get the 
seat. I don't care what we are doing on the 
platform." 

One Sunday when the house was crowded to 
the doors, Art's seat was occupied by a boy about 
fourteen years of age, and much stronger than 
Art. While the speaker, a minister, was praying, 
the president saw Art at the door. He saw him 
push his way through the crowd and when at the 
platform, he took the boy, who occupied his chair, 
by the back of his neck and gave him such a shove 
along the seats that the young man was glad to 
reach the other end of the row. Art sat down, 
folded his arms, put his feet upon the platform, 
and eyed the speaker as if he had been there all 
the time. 

Art was always ready with a smart answer 
to any question put to the boys. Even if his at- 
tention was directed to another part of the house, 
his little fingers were snapping, indicating his 



BOYVILLE. 91 

readiness to answer. His replies, while not al- 
ways pertinent, gave the speaker a fair warning 
not to be too familiar in asking questions. 

Art had a companion who was known as 
"Splinter," on account of his being rather slim, 
but no boy of his age, twelve years, ever had so 
many new movements as Splinter. He was never 
quiet, not so noisy, but continually annoying the 
boy who sat next to him. To take a companion's 
hat and throw it across the room, while some 
good minister was praying, was of frequent oc- 
currence. He would answer questions without 
raising his hand, and would give the boy sitting 
next to him a knock of some kind before he stood 
up. With all this restlessness he was one of the 
best-hearted boys among the sellers. There was 
something in him that the president concluded 
he could not afford to lose sight of — just what 
that was did not develop enough to encourage. 

At one of the Sunday meetings there was a 
speaker who knew how to hold the boys when 
asking questions. He had them perfectly quiet 
and recognized no answer unless the boy raised 
his hand. 

He asked a question which required as an an- 
swer a verse in the Bible. To the president's 



92 BOYVILLE. 

embarrassment, "Splinter's" hand was high above 
the others and he kept a continual snapping of 
his fingers. He was determined to be recognized. 
The president was in hopes the speaker would 
pay no attention to him, fearing the reply would 
spoil the effect of the speaker's talk. However 
"Splinter" managed to be heard. 

"That tall boy may answer," said the min- 
ister. 

The sweat rolled down the president's fore- 
head as he tried to get back into his chair. 

"Splinter" arose, not a smile on his face. He 
looked serious, and without a quiver in his voice 
repeated, word for word, one of the longest ver- 
ses in the Bible, and which gave an appropriate 
answer. 

The speaker looked as surprised as the presi- 
dent, and the compliment he gave the boy was ap- 
preciated by all. 

"Splinter's" education, after that, was looked 
after. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

An interesting case came to the president 
showing how one family can disgrace an entire 
neighborhood; can give a bad name to a whole 
street. On one of the small narrow streets 
within the two-mile circle, lived a family, man 
woman and five boys. One of the boys, a young 
man, served a term in the penitentiary for rob- 
bery. The names of two of them appeared on the 
police station blotter about three times a year for 
drunkenness. It was on account of these boys that 
the neighborhood gained such a bad reputation. 
The other two boys, John and Tom, ages nine and 
twelve, were newsboys. Boys who were driven 
from home, by the parents, "to get something to 
eat elsewhere/' They frequently slept in stair- 
ways, old buildings, cellar-ways or any place 
where they could find shelter from the storms, or 
where they thought they would not be disturbed. 
These two newsboys were doing more to ruin boys 
on the street than the entire membership of the 
association, and when they came into the presi- 
dent's office seeking admission, the president con- 
cluded that if these boys could be saved, and 



94 BOYVILLE. 

their bad acts turned into good, Boyville would 
be a success. It wasn't necessary to ask them if 
they were eligible to membership, if they sold pa- 
pers, if they were newsboys. Every word, every 
act told all that was required. With all the rags, 
and dirt, and slang talk, these boys were up-to- 
date in everything. All the leading topics of the 
day were discussed by them. Every base-ball 
player they knew by name, and it was discovered 
that all newsies followed them when they wanted 
to get into a ball-ground free, or into a circus. 
They had their own way, and without money. 
They feared nothing. They worked for them- 
selves only. The little sympathy they had for any 
one was drowned in their eagerness to move on. 
They gave no thought for the morrow. There was 
no hesitancy by the officers in giving these boys 
membership cards, and when they received them, 
to the question, "Well, now boys, what does this 
mean?" they answered: 

"We mean to lick any one as doesn't do right." 
The vice-president, a smart young man with 
the courage of a lion, went to the boys' home to 
make an investigation of how they lived, and why 
they were so bad when on the streets. Here is 
what he discovered; 



BOYVILLE. 95 

They lived in a small cottage and with a man 
and woman who were not their parents. Their 
own father had died leaving several valuable 
pieces of property to his wife, who was again 
married within a year, and to a man who soon 
lost all the property, having spent the money for 
liquor. The mother died, and her husband again 
married in less than a month, and to a woman 
who drank as much as he did. This was the home 
of the two newsboys. 

"They both went to bed, nearly every night, 
with their clothes on," said the officer, "and what 
the boys had to eat wasn't fit for a dog." 

The case was left entirely in the hands of the 
young officers with instructions to report within 
a month. In less than the appointed time a re- 
port was made. The two newsboys were brought 
into the president's office, each having on a nice 
suit of clothes, their faces and hands clean, and 
their general appearance and deportment remark- 
ably improved. 

"What did you do ?" was asked the officer. 

"We went to the house and demanded that the 
boys receive care and attention for what they 
were doing — they were bringing into the house 
from fifty to sixty cents a day earned by selling 



96 BOYVILLE. 

papers. And instead of the drunken man and 
woman spending this for whiskey, we made them 
buy good things to eat. A retail clothier gave us 
the suits of clothes, and the boys are simply good, 
and are working their way on the streets." 

While the boys were working on this case the 
president reported to the humane officer the con- 
dition of things at this home, and in a very short 
time the family was quite respectable and the boys 
attending school. To the president, remarkable 
as seemed the turning of two bad boys into good, 
honest little sellers, the work of the two officers of 
the association with the parents was even more 
so. 

Self-governing boys. Boys whom we think 
can do nothing, and seldom trust, for fear of fail- 
ing, and yet they brought in line two of the worst 
cases Boyville had experienced. 

As the weeks passed the two boys became fav- 
orites among their little friends. 

One afternoon about six or eight months after 
the two boys became members, one of them, the 
younger, came running into the president's office, 
holding a roll of bills in his hand. Everybody had 
to get out of the way. He was followed by the 



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BOYVILLE. 97 

"gang," some twenty boys, all looking at the little 
fellow with wonderment. 

"See, here, pres., what I found," he said, lay- 
ing fifteen dollars on the desk. "I found this at 
the post-office." 

"And what do you want me to do with this?" 
asked the president. "I wants you to find the 
owner. That's what." 

"Well, why didn't you blow it in? My! what 
a fortune you have." 

"Blow it in? Would that be honest? No, sir, 
as soon as I found de dough I broughts it to you 
to tell us what we must do wid it, see?" 

"That's all right," said the president, "and 
you are teaching us all a good lesson. How often 
we say; 'it is just like finding it.' and even grown 
people wish they could find money, and would they 
turn it over to someone, and ask him to please 
find the owner ? Not that they would think they 
were doing anything wrong by keeping what they 
found; they simply never thought of trying to 
find the owner. You have done a great thing, 
and here is a bright, new dollar, for your honesty. 
I will advertise this in the daily papers for thirty 
days, and if I can't find the owner, it shall all go to 
you." 



98 BOYVILLE. 

Proudly they walked out of the office, all try- 
ing to get closer to the happy finder, the honest 
boy. 

The money was advertised, and in a few days 
the rightful owner was found. He wanted to see 
the newsboy. For his honesty he presented him 
with five dollars, adding : "In six months I want 
to see you in this hotel. In one year if you are 
reported all right by the officers of the association 
I want you to write me at this address." And he 
handed him his card, which gave Indianapolis, 
Indiana, as his home. Six months passed. The 
boy met him in the hotel. The officers reported 
that he was one of the finest and best boys on the 
street. A year passed, and one day he received 
a letter requesting him to "take the next train for 
Indianapolis, provided the president of Boyville 
says you do not swear, steal, lie or smoke cigar- 
ettes." 

The president could truthfully vouch for all 
these, and the boy was sent to his new home. 
Seven years have passed, and that boy today is 
foreman of one of the largest manufacturing in- 
stitutions in the state of Indiana. 

What effect did the good work of these two 



BOYVILLE. 99 

boys have upon the family? It caused them to 
stand on the street posing as relatives to two hon- 
est boys. 

Does it pay to take an interest in a bad boy? 

A boy of eleven years of age made application 
to become a member. He was approved by the 
proper officers. A sealed note accompanied the 
application. It read: "He is accused of giving 
wrong change to customers, and runs away with 
money." 

As soon as he received his membership card, 
and badge, and left the president's office two offi- 
cers were on his track. They watched him sell 
papers. Three days passed when he "stumbled 
against something/ 5 A gentleman in the post- 
office gave him twenty-five cents for a morning 
paper. He had no change, but excused himself 
to "step across the way to get it." Instead of 
going into the store the little boy started in a run 
around the building and was lost from sight. 
The gentleman made this remark to a friend : "I 
might of expected it." This was overheard by 
two newsboys. One said : "Oh, no mister, your 
money is not lost. We'll have it for you in ten 
minutes. Don't you be uneasy. You stand right 
where you are for a few minutes." 

LOFC 



ioo BOYVILLE. 

Out ran the boys, one going to the right, the 
other to the left, and a third joined them who took 
to the alley. In less than ten minutes the boy was 
brought to bay, and appeared before the gentle- 
man. 

An apology was given, the money returned. 

"Don't you say anything to him," said one of 
the newsboys, "we won't do a thing to him, oh, 
no." The man soon forgot the incident, and will 
never know the severe punishment that boy had 
to bear. They took him in the alley, bumped his 
head against the wall of the building, rolled him 
in the mud, took his badge from him and with a 
parting word of advice left him. The badge was 
turned over to the president with instructions to 
return it to the boy at the expiration of fifteen 
days. What for? The president did not know 
and only learned the particulars a month later 
from one of the officers. The boy called for his 
badge, and it was given to him without a word. 

The books show that this same boy, after leav- 
ing the junior grade in school procured a good 
position and the proprietor particularly called 
attention to him for a peculiar trait. He said: 
"The boy applied for work, office work. We gave 
him a job. He asked particularly how many 



BOYVILLE. 101 

hours he must work. When he began and when 
he stopped. This given, we were surprised to 
see that he was at the office every morning two 
hours before his time, and pegging away at a 
typewriter. His wages have been increased 
three times. He'll be one of the firm before we're 
through with him. 

"The only recommendation he had was that 
he was a member of The Boyville Newsboys' As- 
sociation — and this we took. In fact, it proved 
a better recommendation than that offered by his 
mother, who called to get part of his wages to 
purchase whiskey." 



TART FOURTH 



CHAPTER XVII. 

It was just before Christmas ; the streets and 
stores were crowded with people purchasing pres- 
ents. 

An old lady was standing on the corner wait- 
ing for a street car. In her hand she held a small 
package, a Christmas present for someone. A 
boy, about fourteen years of age, darted out from 
a door-way, grabbed the package, hastened down 
the street and dodged into an alley. A newsboy 
who saw the act started after the thief, and as he 
ran several other newsboys joined in the chase. 
While they were gone another newsboy went to 
the lady expressing regret at her loss, but assur- 
ing her the boy who stole the package would be 
caught 

With tears in her eyes the old lady told the 
boy that the box contained a number of presents 
for a little girl who was confined to the house 
on account of being a cripple for life. That the 
purchase was the result of many weeks' hard 
work, sewing for some of her neighbors, that she 
might earn the money to get a present for the 
little girl. 



106 BOYVILLE. 

"Now, my lady," said the newsboy, "don't 
you worry for a minute, one of our officers star- 
ted in a dead run after him and I know he will 
catch him. We don't allow anything like that to 
happen. That boy don't belong to the associa- 
tion." 

The lady was escorted to a drug store where 
people wait for cars, and advised to remain there 
until the newsboys returned. She did not have 
to wait long, for, in a short time, the officer re- 
turned with a dozen newsies all trying to push 
the "grafter" ahead of them. When in front of 
the lady, he was made to hand her the package, 
and get down upon his knees and ask her forgive- 
ness. The old lady was placed upon a street-car, 
and the officers took charge of the boy. They 
brought him to the president's office. 

"Mr. President," said a member of the ex- 
ecutive committee, "we have here a new boy. He 
was pretending to sell papers on the streets, but 
he proved to be a 'grafter,' for we caught him 
stealing a package from an old lady who worked 
all summer to save money to buy a Christmas 
present for a little girl who is a cripple. We run 
him down." The boy hung his head. He was 
under no obligations to any of the boys, and could 



BOYVILLE. 107 

have been independant over his capture but when 
he was told the package belonged to a little crip- 
ple, it had a strange effect upon him. He lost 
sight of everything but the wrong done to the 
little girl. 

"I didn't know it belonged to a cripple or I 
wouldn't have taken it. You see, we at home don't 
think nothing of taking things as we can get, we 
believe in helping ourselves to anything we wants 
when no body is looking. I am sorry I took the 
present." 

The boy lived in a bad neighborhood. His 
father was dead, his mother had no influence over 
him, he roamed the streets at will, and spent the 
majority of his nights sleeping in freight-cars. 
He was just the kind of a boy who grows up 
along the docks of our lake cities, and takes ad- 
vantage of every opportunity to steal anything 
he can use or care for without being detected, 
from freight depots or cars. This is the class of 
young men the association has been aiming to 
reach for a long time. The selling of papers be- 
ing only a subterfuge for stealing. He was fif- 
teen years old and admitted having done many 
bad things. 

"It is boys like you," said the president, "who 



108 BOYVILLE. 

disgrace any association, and while no one seems 
to look after you, or want you, we will take you 
into the association and the officers will have you 
under their charge; what do you say to that?" 

"Well, I guess you have me down pretty fine, 
and if 1* wants to ever get a job I must start my 
life over again." 

"The boys will forget this little package act, 
and blot out all your bad deeds, if you will begin 
a new life, and I will guarantee that in six 
months, by the time warm weather comes, we 
will get you a nice position." 

"If I would have known that package be- 
longed to a little girl do you suppose I would have 
swiped it?" he added. 

"It isn't that alone we object to. Every time 
you steal something someone suffers, and the only 
way to avoid injuring any one is not to steal at 
all," said the president. 

"Aw ! tell him to cut it out, cut it out, he kin 
do it just the same as we do," put in a little boot- 
black. 

"Yes, but you don't have to go out on the 
street and takes what ever you kin carry home, 
like I do," he replied. 



BOYVILLE. 109 

"Well, if your mother makes you do that we 
won't do a thing to her/' said a seller, who 
claimed to own four corners. 

The conversation ended by the president giv- 
ing the new boy a membership card with instruc- 
tions that he must report in thirty days. 

Soon after he left the office, three members 
of the executive committee hastened to his home. 
The mother was warned that "this sending your 
boy out to steal must stop, and stop quick." They 
listened to no arguments, simply gave advice and 
orders, what must be done, and left. 

A month passes and the day named for the 
new applicant to receive his badge, found him at 
the president's office, as is usual with boys, an 
hour before office hours. 

"Gee, but I have lots of good friends. Some 
of the boys took me to see a show, some let me 
sell papers on their corners, but I had to cut out 
swearing." 

The numbered badge was given him. 

A member of the executive committee who 
had him in charge reported: 

"He was hard to bring down to our way of 
doin' things. It was natural for him to steal as 
to eat, and he wanted to give the wrong change 



no BOYVILLE. 

two or three times. We licked him three times. 
He was game. Give him his badge, he's all 
right/' 

Six months later this boy was given a posi- 
tion in a wholesale house. He began on the top 
floor to work his way up in the business. 

His eagerness to learn, his willingness to do 
things not exactly as part of his duties caused 
his employers to notice him and he was advanced, 
in less than two years, to shipping clerk in one 
of the departments. 

Here was a boy whose home life was de- 
grading. His neighbors paying no attention to 
him or his family, except to say : "That boy ought 
to be turned over to the police." The newsboys, 
the boys we often look upon as being bad and 
useless, changed the life of this young man. 

He is now slowly becoming one of the re- 
liable business men of the future. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The president was about to board a street- 
car for home one evening, when a dozen news- 
boys came running towards him, calling him to 
"come here." 

"Bundle found fifty-six dollars," was heard 
from a bunch of sellers. The president, of course 
had to return to his office. 

Bundle was a little round, red-faced boy, who 
always wore a large scarf around his neck, and 
in most any kind of weather. The sellers were 
not surprised at any of their number finding 
money but, said a bootblack: 

"What's going to happen when slow-pokey 
Bundle finds something?" But he did, and at 
the enterance of one of the largest buildings in 
the city. 

"There it was," said Bundle, "all wide open 
before my eyes, I stumbled over it and the money 
scattered. Didn't it Sam?" 

There was nothing in the roll to indicate 
its owner. Some one accustomed to carrying 
money in his vest pocket had lost it. As soon as 
Bundle picked it up, he called to the boys across 



ii2 BOYVILLE. 

the street and on the corners. A dozen boys an- 
swered him, and they all marched towards the 
president's office. Each boy had something to say. 

"Say, pres., we come near losing you, didn't 
we?" said Bundle, "but if you did go home I 
would have stayed up all night holding the dough 
until you come to your office." 

Bundle was rewarded, his companions were 
as delighted as he was. A happier lot of boys 
never walked the streets than these sellers. 

The next morning, Bundle, with five other 
boys came into the office, their faces were long; 
Bundle looked sad. 

"Bundle got a licking," said one of the boys 
looking sympathetically at Bundle. The presi- 
dent looked surprised. 

"Got a licking, and what for?" 

"His mother licked him because he brought 
the money to you. She said it belonged to her and 
she could spend it as she liked." 

It was a fact that Bundle was severely pun- 
ished. 

"All the boys on the street saw me get a whip- 
ping," said Bundle, "and I don't like it." 

The boys were assured that all would come 
out right in the end. "You just wait until we 




FIRE-TOP. 



See Page 11} 



BOYVILLE. 113 

hear from the advertisement we put in the pa- 
pers," said the president. 

The boys were soon playing upon the street. 

A prominent clothier saw the notice of the boy 
finding the money and his desire to seek the 
owner. He wrote the president: "If you will 
send that honest boy to me I will present him 
with the best suit of clothes in my store." 

The mother accompanied Bundle to the store 
and not only did he receive a new suit of clothes 
but an overcoat as well. 

Within forty-eight hours after the find was 
advertised the rightful owner appeared, received 
the money, and presented the boy with a five 
dollar bill and a good watch. 

"Keep this watch to remind you that if you 
will follow up your honest beginning, you will 
not only be a rich man, but a good one." 

The object of relating this incident is the 
sequel. 

The big head-line compliments in the news- 
papers; the many little presents and congratula- 
tions Bundle received had a surprising effect 
upon his mother. She was proud of being the 
boy's mother. Her sons and daughters posed on 



ii4 BOYVILLE. 

the corners and pointed with pride to their 
brother. 

Not only did this act have a good effect on 
the boy and the family, but upon the entire street, 
as the remark is often heard, "this is the street 
that has the honest newsboy." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

There are many interesting cases coming to 
the attention of persons interested in newsboys, 
and they all have a tendency to awaken sym- 
pathy. 

Two little boys, ages nine and ten, were 
brought to the president one morning by an offi- 
cer of the association. They were accused of 
fighting, "almost to a finish." 

Between sobs and tears they both tried to 
tell why they were fighting. While telling their 
story, a boy about fourteen years of age entered 
the office. He was also crying, but more serious- 
ly. The president turned to him and sympa- 
thetically asked, "what is the matter?" With 
his hands rubbing his eyes he answered: "One 
of the newsies run out of the alley and throwed 
my papers into the gutter and they're all spoiled." 

"Where did the boy go?" 

"He runned away and left me alone." 

"How many papers had you?" 

"I had four." 

The two boys that were crying, forgot 
their troubles and became interested in the other 



n6 BOYVILLE. 



boy. Calling the two boys, the president asked 
them if they would run out and try to find the bad 
boy who threw the papers in the street. Of course 
they were delighted to go. Taking the crying 
fourteen-year-old newsboy by the hand, the little 
fellows left the office. 

After waiting an hour, and no signs of the 
boys returning, the president went upon the street 
and to his surprise saw the two little boys, who 
were to hunt down the villian, playing together. 

"Well, what was done with the boy who ru- 
ined Joe's stock of papers; did you find them?" 

"You see, we went to the alley, we looked 
ebery place fur the kid as what threw de papers 
into de gutter, but he had skipped. So me an' 
Skinny talked it over quickly an' we just gave Joe 
eight cents an' told him to go home, to fade away, 
to forget it. As de case wus settled we thought 
it no use ter bother you wid dis trouble, an* we 
resumed our bizness." 

Certainly a new way of settling troubles. 

There is a small boy who has the reputation 
of being a little boss in the territory in which he 
sells, owing to his desire to settle all disputes in 
his own way. He goes upon the idea that it is 



BOYVILLE. 117 

absolutely necessary to resort to pretty severe 
punishment to gain a point. 

One evening a boy about fifteen years of age 
came into the office, crying as a boy only can ; the 
tears found considerable trouble in working 
their way down his cheeks, making his face look 
as if furrows were established for a time at least. 
On the left side of his forehead were several clear 
spots, round in shape, which he pointed to with 
considerable feeling. The president's sympathy 
was aroused, and to the question, how he was 
hurt, he replied: 

"Firetop- -licked- -me. He- -hit- -me- -with- 
his- -fist." 

Firetop was not over nine years of age, and 
the president knew of his fighting qualities, but 
somehow no one ever presented any charges 
worthy of investigation. His name, the boys 
said, "came to him on account of his red hair." 
His reputation for honesty was never questioned. 
He was simply a fighter. He was one of the most 
successful sellers on the street. Because he was 
a "pusher, he went every place, and asked every 
person he met to buy a paper." While the boy 
was telling his story, three other members 



n8 BOYVILLE. 

dropped into the office. They stood for sometime 
looking at the poor boy. 

"Do you boys know Firetop ?" asked the presi- 
dent. 

"Certainly, we all know him." 

"Well, you go out and try to find him and tell 
him I want him to come here immediately." 

Out the boys went and when on the sidewalk 
started in different directions to find Firetop. 
Ten minutes passed when Firetop came running 
into the office. The boys had found him but he 
was too fleet of foot for them. 

"Pres., they tell me you wants me, what fur?" 

"Look at that boy's face," said the president, 
pointing to the injured lad who began to cry in 
earnest. 

"I see it. I did it. But say, kid" turning to 
the boy, "what did I do it fur. Look up at me; 
say, what did I do it fur?" 

"For nothing" came a faint reply. 

"Come off, I hain't going 'round doin' things 
fur nothin\ Answer me, you kin talk, what did 
I do it fur?" 

No reply. 

"Didn't I punch you fur swearing at a lady?" 



BOYVILLE. 119 

It was some moments before the boy answered, 
and he drawled out, "yes." 

Firetop then told the story. The boy was 
selling papers on the street, he asked a lady to 
buy a paper, and because she refused he swore 
at her, using language seldom seen in print. 

"I heard it, an* I told him it was against the 
rules, an' if he didn't cut it out I would punk him. 
What did he do but swore at me. He violated 
the rules before my face. I punked, gently at 
first, an' then I punked him again. He ran into 
the alley, I followed him, an' de boys come from 
the street, I told them he was my game, an' I 
punked him again. I told all the boys I would 
punk de gang ef they came to help him. Say, 
pres., wasn't I right in punking him?" The boy 
acknowledged he swore and Firetop kept at him 
until he promised he would never do it again. 
This was accomplished with very little trouble. 
The boy's face was washed and as there was no 
traces of a wound the matter was amicably set- 
tled. The boys left the office, good friends. 



CHAPTER XX. 

This incident recalls another case of 
swearing, and the peculiar method adopted 
to correct a boy, as well as to influence a 
family to train their son in the right path. 
One reason why so many boys swear is be- 
cause they constantly hear men swear on the 
streets. At Sunday-school the boy learns that 
he is violating one of the commandments. But 
men pay no attention to it, then why should boys ? 
Boys are imitative. They want to do what men 
do. It is seldom that we hear of a mother ap- 
proving of her boy swearing and encouraging 
him in this, certainly vulgar habit. This method 
used by the president in curing a boy of swearing, 
may not meet the approval of many of our Sun- 
day-school teachers, and it is given with some 
reluctance. It is given, however, to show what 
can be done in extreme cases. 

"Are you the president of the Newsboys' as- 
sociation ?" asked a boy with a very pretty face. 

"Yes, and what can I do for you?'' 

"I want to join the association/' 

The usual questions were asked and an- 




HE SWEARED AT A LADY AND I PUNKED HIM." 

See Page 118 



BOYVILLE. 121 

swered. He proved to be a carrier and had 
twenty-eight customers. A membership card was 
given the boy with instructions to call in thirty 
days and get the badge. 

The boy left the office perfectly happy. In 
about a week he returned, walked to the desk and 
laid his membership card down, saying: "My 
mother says I can swear all I want to, and you 
have nothing to do with it. You must not tell 
me to stop swearing." 

The president turned around, looked at the 
boy for a moment, discovered he was unusually 
bright, and back behind his black eyes he showed 
the right kind of spirit indicating that if he made 
up his mind to do a thing he would do it. 

"So your mother wants you to swear. Well, 
well, and she don't want you to belong to any 
association unless we all swear. Well, you shall 
not be made unhappy. If your mother wants you 
to swear you shall have that pleasure. Does 
she swear ?" 

"Yes, sir, we all swear to beat the band," he 
replied, and in a tone indicating that it was one 
of the pleasures of his home life. 

"And don't any of you think it wrong to 
swear?" 



122 BOYVILLE. 

"Oh, no, father says he can swear and it gives 
force to his arguments. Mother says if I want 
to swear I can do it." 

"This association compels no one to stop 
swearing — the rule adopted by the boys simply 
says we don't believe in it. And the officers 
wouldn't for the world have you do anything to 
displease your parents. 

"How many swear words do you know?" 

He thought for a moment counting on his fin- 
gers, then said: 

"I know seven." 

"Seven big swear words, well, well, and can 
you name them to me?" 

"Yes, sir, all of them and I may know an- 
other." 

"All right. Try it. One, two, three, four, 
five, six ; my ! that's an awful bad one, and- -and- 
-seven. There they are." 

In repeating the words, his manner showed 
he was familiar with their use. Not a blush rose 
to his cheeks. 

"Do you want to be a member of this asso- 
ciation ?" 

"Yes, sir, all my friends are members and 
they want me to join." 



BOYVILLE. 123 

"I will pin your card before me, on the desk. 
See?" 

"Yes, sir, I see it." 

"Well, I will let it remain there until you call 
for it, either to tell me to tear it up or you take it. 
Now, here is what I want you to do. And this 
not unless you want to. You go home, and every 
time your mother wants you to do something use 
one of those seven swear words, and say it loud 
enough so she can hear it. Keep this up until she 
tells you to stop that swearing." 

"I will do it, but suppose she licks me, then 
what?" 

"Oh, that would hardly be in keeping with 
her teachings, she wants you to swear, doesn't 
she?" 

"Sure thing, she never licks me for swearing." 

"Do you want to stop it and become a mem- 
ber of the association? Well, you try this plan, 
and if you can, throw the entire lot at her, the 
seven words, all at once." 

"Well, I'll try it. It looks easy." 

The boy left the office with a hearty "good- 
by." 

The following Saturday he returned. He 
stood smiling at the desk. 



124 BOYVILLE. 

"You can give me the membership card/' he 
said laughing. 

Recognizing him the president shook him by 
the hand. 

"Well, I have been wondering what luck you 
had in swearing. ,, 

"Oh, I had luck. Only got licked seven 
times." 

"Got licked, and by whom?" 

"Well, you would think the whole house fell 
on top of me. Father said, send that boy down to 
you at once, but mother licked me until I saw 
stars. I'll never swear again in our home. She 
stopped it. She said she never heard such terrible 
swearing and when I said I learned it of her, I 
got the seventh licking. Gee, but I was sore for 
a week. Mother told me the first thing this morn- 
ing to come after that card." 

"What did you do when you first went home?" 

"Oh, I threw those seven swear words right 
at her, and, from the very beginning. She looked 
at me several times. I backed up, and when she 
asked me a question, I let fly the worst word, then 
I had to run." 

"What did your father say?" 

"He only said/didn't I tell you that some day 



BOYVILLE. 12? 

that boy would disgrace us, now it's up to you to 
straighten it out/ and when they knew I told you 
why the card was sent back, that changed every- 
thing. I've been down here four times, father 
made me go." 

His name was placed upon the books, a badge 
was given him, "with a lucky number," and he 
left the office. 

A month later the president met him at one 
of the auxiliary meetings, and to the question, 
"How about the seven swear words," he said: 

"We busted up swearing at our house. Ev- 
erybody had to stop it." 

No better worker on the street can be found 
than this boy. His whole soul is in the work for 
doing good among his associates. 



TART FIFTH 



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CHAPTER XXI. 

There is no subject that has received so much 
attention and has worried so many good people 
as the liquor question. Saloons and drinking 
never cease to be problems for our well-meaning 
temperance people. Why man created saloons, 
no one undertakes to answer. The strongest man 
is never too strong in a saloon, and the weak is 
to be pitied. The saloon is an evil that has been 
with us a long time and seems to be here to stay 
in one form or another. While we cannot erad- 
icate the evil, especially by extreme methods, 
can we not modify its influence? We have tried 
the probation method, and failed. We have tried 
the open saloon, the clubs, the no-treating, the 
open reform saloon, the wet and dry division — but 
the saloons are still with us, and this because of 
the fact that the state, the city, property owners, 
recognize the saloon legally, through the assess- 
ment of heavy licenses and taxes, and good well- 
meaning people ask and receive money from the 
ever-willing giver, the saloonman, and use it for 
charitable as well as church purposes. The world 
today is heartless in its mad rush for money get- 



i^o BOYVILLE. 

ting, and the "graft" is in the minds of thousands 
of well-meaning, but over-anxious to get-rich- 
quick men; among them the saloonman. Let us 
suggest to our saloonmen how they can stop a 
great deal of misery in the world. We have in 
mind a saloon that was "made good" by five news- 
boys. "A real live saloon, where politicians con- 
gregated to lay plans for work, and whose owner 
had an eye to making money, and saw nothing 
else, even to the ruining of boys and men." 

"Say, pres.," said a newsboy from the saloon 
district, and an officer of an auxiliary, "Jimmy 
Smith is drunk and laying in the alley at the 
saloon where politicians hold their meetin's. The 
bar-tender throwed him out." 

The books showed Jimmy Smith's father was 
a "ward politician," a good fellow who was often 
taken home drunk by his son, a newsboy. Jimmy 
was eleven years old, very bright and intelligent 
for his age. He learned to drink liquor through 
his father and mother sending him to the saloon 
for beer, and "dropping in the alley on the way 
home and tasting the beer, until he began to 
like it." 

To the question, "did you ever see Jimmy 
drink in the saloon?" the boys answered that it 



BOYVILLE. 131 

was a common thing; "but today when the bar- 
tender took Jimmy's nickel, and he was full, he 
throwed him out. He said he didn't want the 
kid to disgrace his place." 

Three of the best officers were called, they 
went to the alley, and took Jimmy home. Three 
of the five boys who were assigned this case, be- 
longed to a gang and were familiar with all the 
inside workings of a saloon, they were never slow 
in showing their appreciation of a saloonman who 
defended them, and who turned them down for 
entering the saloon. The method adopted by the 
boys was their work. They knew the proprietor 
of the saloon, and knew him to be a very kind- 
hearted man. No person ever asked him in vain 
for a donation to any cause. His own boys were 
model young men, stood high in school, and as- 
sociated with the best of church members. 
Strange to say the two sons of the saloonman 
were regular at Sunday-school. It is a fact that 
when any society, church or other organization 
desired aid, this saloonman was sought after by 
a dozen persons. They knew he was easy. This 
man in his home, on the street, in the lodge room 
(and he belonged to many societies), in any pub- 



132 BOYVILLE. 

lie gathering, was recognized as an honest man; 
but behind the bar he saw nothing but money. 

He never thought he was doing a wrong by 
taking the last cent from a drunken man; it was 
business, and that was why he was there. When 
reminded of it he simply replied that, "I might 
as well have it as any one else, for someone will 
get it." Often he said: "He is bound to drink 
and the best way is to let him drink up all his 
money and that is an end of it." 

When the newsboys called upon him to plead 
for their friend, Jimmy, they were received with, 
"the utmost attention and kindness." The follow- 
ing is what the chairman reported : 

"We said to the boss, we come to see you 
about Jimmy Smith and his father. You see 
Jimmy has been in bad company, the bad company 
was at his home, his father an' mother. He 
learned the habit of drinking by tasting beer he 
was sent after by his father, and he said when he 
learned to drink that your clerk gave him a glass 
of beer every time he came after it. So the other 
day your bar-tender threw him out of the saloon. 
He had gradually taught the boy to drink, and 
when he began to get so that it annoyed him, he 
didn't want him. We come to see if you won't 



BOYVILLE. 133 

please stop giving Jimmy any more drink and tell 
your man to throw him out of the saloon before 
he drinks. We'll stand for that, but we won't 
stand for his pitching him in the alley when he's 
got all of Jimmy's money and is drunk. As to 
his father, we don't want you to sell him anything 
when you see he has enough. Don't take the last 
cent he has when you know he is full already. 
Send him home. His family needs every cent. 
And don't sell Jimmy any beer if he comes with 
the bucket." 

The boys were treated with great kindness 
by the owner of the saloon who promised to do 
more than they asked of him. His bar-tenders 
were instructed, under penalty of dismissal, not 
to permit a newsboy in the saloon. 

"I realize the wrong being done to the boys," 
he said to the president, "and it is through 
thoughtlessness that we permit the boys to come 
here at all. I'll tell you what I'll do. One of my 
relatives has an interest in a commercial college. 
I'll buy this boy, Jimmy, a scholarship if he'll go 
to school." 

Jimmy was only too glad to accept. 

Two years pass, and Jimmy is about to grad- 
uate from the college. The manager said: "I 



134 BOYVILLE. 

have four men after this boy. He has the right 
kind of push in him to make a splendid business 
man." 

Four years later Jimmy received a monthly 
salary of $100, and during that time has assisted 
in helping many a street boy. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

At one of the auxiliary meetings the vice- 
president of the association, -who was always 
practical in his talks to the boys, gave a little ad- 
vice to the sellers. 

It is worth remembering. 

"Boys," he said, "rain or shine be at your 
post, at your corner. Never be out of papers, and 
never be out of change. Many a good boy who 
needs money loses a sale for want of having 
change. Keep your eye peeled. If a man wants 
a paper, you should see it, though he is a square 
away. I know of one little boy, smaller than those 
who were selling with him, who always saw a 
customer a block away, and when the evening's 
work was over he generally had ten to twenty 
cents to the clear more than others. Be polite 
and always cheerful. Keep your face and hands 
clean, and you will get many an extra nickel. If 
you are polite and civil you will get a regular line 
of customers who will always wait for you. Thank 
everyone who buys a paper. Tip your hat to the 
ladies and they will speak well of you when they 
get home. Any little favor you can do for a man 



136 BOYVILLE. 

or woman on the street (and not look as though 
you expect something), will always bring you 
business. The wind blew off the hat of a gentle- 
man one day, and a little seller saw it. Quick as 
a flash he ran after it, took his own cap to wipe 
the dirt off the gentleman's hat, and handed it to 
him. The gentleman said: 'How many papers 
you got?' Twenty-four, sir/ said the boy. 'Give 
them all to me." 

On the membership card it reads: "He does 
not approve of swearing, etc." 

A probation member, a boy who received his 
membership card, and had thirty days to wait for 
his badge, brought an old member to the presi- 
dent, one evening, with this plea. 

"President, this boy swears like hell. I heard 
him on the corner." 

"Aw, what you given us, you swear yourself." 
replied the accused. 

"Yes that's all right. Tell me something; 
how would I know what swearing was if I did 
n't know something about it.," proudly answered 
the new member. 

"Well, you have no right to bring me here and 
accuse me of doing what you yourself do. Read 
your card, kid, read your card." 




FIRST SALE OF THE DAY. 



BOYVILLE. 137 

Without showing any signs of worry, the little 
fellow said. 

"President what can you expect of a bation- 
ist. When I get my badge things will be dif- 
ferent. I cuts swearing out then/' 

"Yes, but you better wait instead of buttin in 
before you are a live member," said the carrier. 

They talked some time about the matter be- 
tween themselves and finally they locked arms, 
slowly walked out of the office saying : 

"Guess we better cut out swearing all 
around." 

The following story illustrates a good method 
of treating boys who disobey their parents. It 
may not meet the approval of many fathers and 
mothers, but the sequel has in it the success of 
the work among the street-boys. We regret that 
we cannot give due credit to the author for the 
suggestions embodied in the story. 

A young boy was left alone in the yard to 
play. Everybody had gone and left the house in 
his care. He was given the key and told not to 
enter the house until the family returned. After a 
while he became tired of the birds, the flowers, the 
the trees, the sunshine. The spirit of disobe- 
dience entered into him and slowly he took his 



ij8 BOYVILLE. 

way to the house. He unlocked the door. The 
first thing met his eye was his father's razor. He 
had always been forbidden to touch it. But the 
spirit of license ran riot in his veins, and in using 
it he cut his face until the blood trickled down. 
Next he made his way to a matchbox. He had 
always been told to let it alone. He first built 
fences with matches on the floor, then fires under 
the lace curtains. A hole in the carpet, ruined 
curtains and his fingers blistered was the result. 
Suffering with pain and ashamed of his disobe- 
dience he steals out under the trees, and like 
Adam in the garden, he thought he could hide 
his sins by hiding himself. So he stole away and 
crawled under some bushes. When his father 
came home, discovered the ruined articles, he 
thought, what can be done to restore and mend 
that which his boy had broken, had ruined ? His 
razor was broken, but he could buy a new one. 
His matches were consumed, but he could buy 
more. The curtains and carpet were defaced by 
fire, but they could be replaced and repaired. 
Wealth could repair the damage done to the 
house and make all as before. Skill and nature 
could repair the wrong done to the hand and the 
face, and make them as they were before. 



BOYVILLE. 139 

But where were the riches and where was the 
teacher that could make the boy's heart as it was 
before his disobedience? None could be found. 
Let me tell you what happened. The father came 
not to upbraid, but to entreat ; not to chastise, but 
to weep; The child's hand was burned, the 
father's heart was broken. The boy cried for 
shame, the father cried for sorrow. The father 
put his arms about the boy and with his head upon 
his breast together they sobbed out their sorrow. 
One part of it was the boy's confession, and the 
other part of it was the father's pain. Together 
they made a new resolution and hand to hand, 
and heart to heart, and love to love, they began 
together to repair the ruin that had been 
wrought. 

During the early stages of a boy's member- 
ship he is constantly reminded that some day he 
will leave the street, he will seek employment 
elsewhere, and his start in a business life depends 
upon his street work. To illustrate this teach- 
ing, a boy found a small child's savings bank. It 
was filled with money, small coin; and it was 
heavy. It was picked up on the street over a mile 
from the president's office. As soon as found, the 
boy started on a run, as they always do, for the 



140 BOYVILLE. 

office. It was delivered with the usual instruct- 
ion "to please find the owner." To try the newsie 
the president called him aside and said, in a con- 
fidential whisper : "Why didn't you sneak around 
the corner, into an alley, any place where no one 
could see you, and take a stone break the old bank 
all to pieces, take the money, and, my, what a 
good time you could have had." 

The boy quickly replied : "No, sir, Mr. Presi- 
dent, suppose I wanted a job, and stood in line to 
be questioned by the man, and he would ask, have 
you always been honest? What would I say? 
Why! my face would show I did something 
wrong — I took a little bank from some poor boy, 
and he would say, I don't want a boy I would 
have to be afraid of ; no that don't belong to me." 

This plainly shows what can be successfully 
impressed upon the minds of these hustling, seem- 
ingly thoughtless, street-boys. And when the 
owner of that bank proved to be a little girl — and 
how happy she was when it was found and re- 
turned to her, the boy said : "I would rather have 
the girl's smiles than all the money the bank con- 
tained." 



TART SIXTH 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

From the very beginning of the Boyville as- 
sociation there has scarcely been a day without 
something of importance transpiring among the 
boys. It has been gradually building up, incidents 
and noble acts showing the willingness of these 
boys not only to do right themselves but to as- 
sist others. 

The work so humbly begun in 1892, with one 
hundred or more members, mostly the poorest 
boys of the streets, little outcasts, as they are 
often called, developed so rapidly under the self- 
governing plan, that in the early part of the year 
1905 the books of the Boyville Newsboys' Asso- 
ciation showed a membership of over three thous- 
and boys under fourteen years of age. This enroll- 
ment includes two hundred and fifty boys who 
started with the association as sellers and shiners 
of shoes, but who today have graduated from the 
street. The majority of this number are engaged 
in some business, lawyers, doctors, commercial 
travelers, clerks or working in some trade, and 
all ambitious not only to earn a living for them- 
selves but also to lend a helping hand to those 



144 BOYVILLE. 

who are in need, ever having in mind the teach- 
ings of the association. The following will show 
how well some of the principles have been remem- 
bered and how long they remained intact. 

Early in January of 1905, a young man 
brought to the president an old pocket-book con- 
taining twenty-two dollars and sixty cents ($22.- 
60), together with some letters, the contents of 
which revealed the fact that the owner was a poor 
woman and had been visiting her relatives to se- 
cure assistance in raising money to pay taxes, 
long since due, on her home. Names were given, 
but no residence. 

The president said to the young man : "You 
know we advertise what the boys find in the daily 
papers and do everything we can to seek the 
owner and — " 

"Yes, sir/' replied the young man, "I know 
all this and have been through it many years ago. 
That is just what I want you to do, please try to 
find the rightful owner. I want no compensation, 
and I don't want my name mentioned in any 
way." 

As it was necessary to know who the finder 
was, so that after the expiration of thirty days 
the money could be returned to him, he finally 



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BOYVILLE. 145 

gave his name and address. When he had left 
the office, something about his eyes reminded the 
president that he had seen him, somewhere many- 
years ago. Bringing out the Newsboys' book he 
found among the first names recorded eleven 
years ago, this young man's. Following the name 
was: "Seller, and shiner, age eleven, poor par- 
ents, smart boy," and on leaving the street, as a 
seller, became a graduate member. So, he was a 
newsboy eleven years ago, and still retained the 
desire to do something for others. 

About a week after the money was advertised, 
a very aged lady called. She minutely described 
the contents of the pocket-book ; she said : "I was 
returning from a visit to my son, where I went to 
get $22.60 to pay taxes on my home. This 
amount included some back taxes. The property 
was already advertised for sale. What to do 
when I lost that money I did not know. My men- 
tal suffering was most intense. I walked from 
the depot towards the court house and did not 
miss my pocket-book until I crossed the bridge. 
Yes, this is mine." 

During the recital of her story her eyes were 
filled with tears, and she showed the mental 
strain under which she was laboring. When the 



146 BOYVILLE. 

pocket-book and the money were handed to her, 
the change in her demeanor was beautiful to be- 
hold. When the young man was told to whom 
the money belonged and the great good it did, 
he said : 

"No money reward could pay me for this. I 
am only too glad we found the owner, especially 
as it belonged to so poor a woman." 

Does it pay to be a life-member of The Boy- 
ville Newsboys' Association? 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

The finding of valuable articles and turning 
them over to the president, with a request to find 
the owner, is not a rule of the association. 

All these little acts have a tendency to culti- 
vate a desire to assist others and many times vio- 
lations of the rules are corrected by members 
who are not officers. 

At almost any time of the day can be seen a 
man with a two-wheeled cart, slowly circulating 
around newspaper offices, especially about the 
time the dailies are out. The newsies purchase 
a penny's worth of ice cream, or cheap candies, 
and often these old men become quite confidential 
friends of certain boys — particularly the shiners, 
who are on the street almostly constantly. One 
time a new member, a bootblack, a boy about 
fourteen years of age, before he understood the 
secret workings of the association, had a dispute 
with a vendor of ice cream and peanuts, about the 
loss of several sacks of peanuts. The boy was 
accused of stealing the peanuts. "Yes, you didn't 
see me steal 'em," said the shiner, "an if you don't 
catch a feller, how youse goin' to prove it ?" 



148 BOYVILLE. 

The boy was about to leave the wagon, when 
several sellers came to him. 

"Say, Muddy Water," cried one of the boys, 
"we seed you steal the peanuts. You must settle 
wid de ole man." 

The boy came back, but pleaded that he did 
not have any money. 

"All right, we'll chip in an' pay de debt." 

The money was raised, and the boy was re- 
quired to pay for the stolen peanuts and make an 
apology. 

"I'm sorry, but I did'nt know it was again' 
the rules of the association," he said. 

"Of course it's again the rules, an' it's our 
business to give all new members warning when 
they do things like that. Don't do it any more." 

This was a warning well heeded as after 
events proved. 

One of the greatest benefits gained by the 
newsboys in belonging to the association is the 
securing of suitable positions; for boys, as they 
grow older, naturally leave the street work. 

Wholesale as well as retail men, frequently 
ask for good, honest boys. During the twelve 
years existence of Boyville it has been the de- 
light of the president to secure some two hundred 



BOYVILLE. 149 

places for newsboys. With all this great number 
it is a pleasure to state that not one in fifty proved 
unworthy of the positions, or unfitted for the kind 
of work. The majority of boys for whom 
positions were secured were from very poor par- 
ents, mostly widowed mothers, needing their 
assistance. 

Unless a person is familiar with street 
boys, no conception can be formed of their en- 
ergy and determination in following up anything 
they want. 

A young man, who had outgrown newsboy's 
work called upon the president and wanted a po- 
sition as brakeman on one of the railroads. 

He was kindly informed by the president that 
he knew the superintendent of the road he wished 
to work for had already over five hundred ap- 
plications from young men wanting to be brake- 
men. Instead of asking the president to see the 
superintendent, as is generally done, he said: 

"Please give me the name of the man who 
does the employing of brakemen. I want to see 
him. I think I can show him he wants me." 

"I am afraid it won't be of any use, but I 
like your pluck. Here is a note to him." 



i5o BOYVILLE. 

This note simply said the bearer was an hon- 
est young man. 

A few days later the young man called. 

"Well, I got a job. I'm brakeman on one of 
the fast trains." 

This he secured through his own tact, for this 
certainly was necessary. His street experience 
taught him to hustle for himself, and it became 
part of his nature as he grew older. He did not 
sit down and wait for something to come his way, 
for something to turn up. He turned up some- 
thing for himself. 

His frank and honorable method of working 
the superintendent, his earnest but manly appeal, 
his push, his politeness, his tact, secured for him 
what five hundred young men were "waiting to 
receive by letter." When the matter was referred 
to the superintendent he said : "His every action 
showed he was a willing worker and not afraid 
to work overtime if necessary. He works as 
though he owned the entire road." 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Commercial men, some of our best merchants, 
sometimes, in their eagerness to make money, for- 
get the first principles of honesty, and often make 
assertions that upon second thought they would 
not make. Sometimes in their advertising they 
will say things which they would never think of 
saying under other circumstances, though lying 
in business matters is equally as dishonorable as 
in private life. The relations between the public 
and the merchant, as well as between master and 
servant, must rest on mutual respect and confi- 
dence. Here is an illustration, by a close ob- 
server, a boy fourteen years of age. 

Walking along one of the principal streets, a 
newsboy noticed the following sign, in large type, 
in a show window and attached to some article 
for sale. It read : "Regular price, one hundred 
dollars. Our price, twenty-nine dollars." 

"Say, president/' said the boy, "is that man 
telling the truth when he says a twenty-nine dol- 
lar article is worth one hundred dollars ?" 

It was a question that required a wise answer, 



i^2 BOYVILLE. 

but put it in any business way possible, nothing 
could satisfy the boy that it was strictly honest. 

"When I go into business/' said the seller, 
"You bet I'll not fool the public; when I say a 
thing is worth so much it will be worth that 
much." 

What time would develop, what changes come 
over this young man, no one could tell, but the 
right principle had a good hold of the boy, and it 
meant success and a clear conscience during his 
manhood. 

That the success of the association does not 
depend upon the efforts of the officers entirely, 
will be seen by the following : 

Three newsboys called upon the president; 
two of them were leading a ragged little fellow 
with a shining-box thrown over his shoulder. 

"Say, president," said one of them, "here's a 
boy shining shoes on the market an' the way he 
swears is puttin' men out o' business." 

The accused bootblack was a sight. To the 
question where he lived he replied: "I have no 
home. My father's dead an' my mother, she's 
no good. There's no room fur me in the house." 

By further questioning it was learned that the 
clothes he had on were given to him some two 




THE TOUGH FROM MARKET SPACE. 

See Page 152 



BOYVILLE. i?j 

months ago and had not been taken off since he 
put them on. This may seem strange, but it is 
only one of the dozen of cases where parents do 
not require the removal of their boy's clothes 
when they go to bed. 

The peculiar odor coming from boys who are 
treated in this shameful manner will prove this. 
This boy walked from a neighboring city, or stole 
a ride on some freight-train. He had been shi- 
ning shoes around the market-space for a month 
or more, and declared that to be in the push, to 
be recognized by men, and to secure business, it 
was necessary to swear and be tough. 

"I wouldn't be a bootblack," he said, "if I 
couldn't swear, the men wouldn't shine if I 
didn't." 

The newsboys who frequented the market 
were very much put out by this boy's swearing 
and general tough appearance, so when oppor- 
tunity favored they began their missionary work, 
with the result of persuading the shiner to ac- 
company them to the president's office. 

The boy had a very attractive face. He was 
worth saving. 

"So, you come to see me about joining the as- 
sociation," said the president. 



154 BOYVILLE. 

The boy replied: "The boys say I can make 
more money if I cut out swearin' an' belong to 
the association." 

"They tell me you swear and sometimes don't 
know how to give correct change to your custom- 
ers. If that's so you are just the kind of a boy 
we want. You little hustling fellows make our 
best young men. You don't wait until someone 
comes to you for a shine. I have seen you follow 
a man who had red shoes a whole square. You 
will make a good business man, and these little 
boys, friends of yours, are just the kind of boys 
who will help you, will bring you business, will 
tell you where to get something good to eat, and 
I think we can throw away your old ragged 
clothes and get a new suit, how would you like 
that?"' 

His face had a surprised look. He didn't ex- 
pect some one to offer anything of interest to 
him, he expected to get lectured, to be "talked 
goodygood to," as he afterwards said. 

"Well, you see, mister," said the boy with 
some familiarity, "we can't do business on the 
street unless we do as men do. They swear at 
us an' we must swear at them or we lose the 
shine." 



BOYVILLE. 155 

"How often do men swear at you?" 

"How often? I can't count 'em. Every other 
word." 

"Well, it doesn't sound nice, does it?" 

"No, an' I could cut it out." 

"Sure thing he can cut it out, an' we'll be 
right behind to see that he forgets it," put in one 
of the newsies. 

"Well, I'll start you in the association," said 
the president, "but I don't want you to be too 
good to start with. Sometimes you may forget 
what the card means, and you will swear before 
you know it, but don't let that worry you, the next 
time you will do better and forget it. But when 
you get the badge, in thirty days, then you musn't 
swear at all, for if you do the officers will be right 
after you and your name will be on a list that 
means something when you get older and want 
a position in some big store." 

The membership card was given to him, a 
new suit of clothes was furnished by a kind 
hearted clothier, and the boys — including the 
chairman of the executive committee — took the 
boy home. When his mother discovered some one 
took an interest in him, she began to think he 
amounted to something, and from that time on, 



i$6 BOYVILLE. 

he received attention. At the expiration of thirty 
days the numbered badge was given to him and 
he started on his new life. 

In the fall of the same year this bootblack 
was unanimously elected as an officer of Boyville, 
and is one of the best boys on the street. Two 
months later he brought to the president a gold 
watch, worth forty-two dollars and fifty cents. 
The owner was found, and insisted upon seeing 
the young man. He was sent, with the watch, to 
him. The wealthy lawyer handed him ten cents, 
and gave him some good advice. The boy re- 
turned the money saying : 

No, Mister, you keep this, you need it more 
than I do." 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Among the great number of boys who called 
at the office, none cast such a ray of sunshine 
about him as a little seller known as Sunny Willie, 
on account of the smile he always seemed to have. 
But with all his good nature and kindness of 
heart, he, at times, became very serious. 

One evening after the boys had sold their pa- 
pers and were enroute to their homes, Sunny 
Willie, as was often his* habit, called upon the 
president to say good night. Just as he was leav- 
ing the office, two boys walked in and the loud 
talking between them indicated trouble. Willie 
concluded to remain. Leaning against the desk 
he became a very attentive listener. The smile 
had left him. He looked thoughtful. 

"I know you're wrong," said one of the boys, 
"you're talking to hear yourself talk. You are 
looking fur trouble. That's what you are. I ken 
prove it. I ken show you I wasn't on the corner 
fur a week." "That's right," replied the other 
boy, "why wasn't you there fur a week, because 
you stole the papers from the poor old woman and 



158 BOYVILLE. 

was ashamed to sell 'round the corner. Now, 
come off, you took de papers." 

At the corner of the post-office is a small stand 
kept by a woman, who has been engaged in selling 
papers for a number of years. One morning, 
some papers were missing from a bundle lying 
upon the sidewalk. The boy accused usually sold 
papers on the corner and his absence for several 
mornings gave rise to the suspicion that he either 
took the papers or knew something about them. 

"As I said before," continued the accused boy, 
"I did not steal the papers, an' you got no proof 
to show I did." 

There was silence for some moments when 
Sunny Willie, said, in a whisper, to the president : 

"I saw de kid take the papers. Shall I butt 
in?" 

"Yes, you arbritate the case — settle it," re- 
plied the president. 

The usual smile was still missing when Willie 
said, quietly : 

"Sand the track, you're slipping." 

"What do you mean?" asked the boy, his face 
becoming very red. 

"You know the rule of the association is to 
warn a boy when he's slipping; when he's doin' 



BOYVILLE. 159 

something wrong. When I say, sand the track, 
I mean you can't go forward, you go backward, 
and some one must help you or you slide back, 
see ? I'm the fellow who's ready to stop you from 
sliding. I saw you take the papers." 

The accused was surprised. He could not 
talk. Sunny Willie again came to his rescue. 

"I'll give you these pennies/' he said, and the 
smile returned to his pretty face. In his little 
hand he held ten new pennies. 

"Now, didn't you take the papers?" 

"Yes, but I intended to return the money for 
them, or make it all right with the old woman." 

"Come," he continued addressing Willie," HI 
go with you and we'll make it all right." 

Out the three boys went and they were soon 
talking with the old woman. Shortly, Sunny 
Willie returned to the office. 

"If I hadn't a put sand on his track he would 
have slipped way back," he said to the president, 
"Everything's all right. He will never steal pa- 
pers again." 

Another little seller, a favorite on the street 
among business men, one of whom the president 
often purchases a paper to please the newsboy, 
came running into the office one evening and 



160 BOYVILLE. 

throwing his bundle upon the lap of the president 
said: 

"Here, pres.; hold these papers until I go into 
the hotel to get a drink of water." 

The act was done so quickly the president 
found the big bundle on his lap before he really 
understood the wishes of the newsie, but he 
quickly returned, took the papers, and said, as he 
hastened out: 

"Thank you, Mr. President." 

The confidence this boy had in the president 
was appreciated, not only by him but by those 
who witnessed the act. 

It has always been a source of great pleasure, 
to the president and his associates, to see how 
deeply interested the officers of the association 
become, as the following will show. 

Three officers were walking on one of the prin- 
cipal streets casually looking in the show-windows 
when they heard music ; looking ahead they saw a 
newsboy, a seller, walking along, playing a 
mouth-organ. Coming to him, it was noticed the 
instrument was an unusually fine one, and a new 
one. 

"That mouth-organ is too expensive for that 



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DIVIDING THE PAPERS. 



BOYVILLE. 161 

boy, there's something wrong," said one of the 
officers. 

" Where did you get that organ/' was asked 
the newsie. 

"I buyed it at Smith's store, down yonder," 
was the reply. 

"Well, I guess, not. You never had so much 
money. Come on with us and show us where 
you bought it." 

They walked to the corner when the boy said : 

"I didn't buy it there, I bought it down on 
Monroe street," giving the correct name of a 
store on that street. 

"All, right, come along, we'll go down there." 

Around the corner they started and when 
within a block of the street the boy again changed 
the place of purchase. 

"I buyed it of Mr. Jones, way out on this 
street." 

That was five blocks away. 

"Now this is the last time," said one of the 
officers, "if you change the place again, look out." 

But when they had walked four squares the 
boy again made an effort to change. 

"No, you don't my chappy," said one of the 
officers, "We know you stole it. We knew it 



162 BOYVILLE. 

from the first. Now you own to the truth or we 
will take you to the president, and then what?" 

The boy squirmed considerable, but every 
movement gave evidence that he stole it. 

"Now, where did you get it?" was bluntly 
asked, as the boy was backed up against a build- 
ing. 

This was too much for him. He owned he 
"hooked it." Naming a prominent department 
store as the place he took it. 

"You must go with us, hand it to the propri- 
etor and beg his pardon," said the officers. 

This at first seemed a most difficult task, but 
when they promised to accompany him to the 
store he agreed. 

When at the door of the great store he asked 
the officers to step aside. 

"If I do this you will not tell the president, 
will you?" 

"Of course not, he shall never know anything 
about it." 

He walked in, took an elevator and soon stood 
before the manager of the store. 

He told how he saw it on the counter and 
"hooked it when the girls were not looking, but 
I will never do anything like this again." 



BOYVILLE. 163 

The manager thanked the boy for his deter- 
mination to do better and told him he would for- 
give him for the theft, and promised to give him 
a position in the store if the officers of the asso- 
ciation would bring him there when he was 
through school. 

The president learned of this incident a month 
later but never knew the name of the newsboy. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

As has been said, the boys are continually sug- 
gesting by their acts and words, something new, 
something whereby the officers can build upon 
their ideas. 

The membership cards were given first, to 
show the boys some of the written rules; and, 
second, that the boys might have something offi- 
cial to show in case they lost their badges ; but a 
new idea suggested itself to one of the gradua- 
ting sellers, who was about to engage in business 
other than selling papers. A prominent church- 
man advertised, "a boy wanted in his manufac- 
turing concern." This young man saw the adver- 
tisement and became an applicant for the posi- 
tion. He was received very kindly and naturally 
so because he had an honest face, and was a will- 
ing worker. The gentleman asked if the boy 
could give any reference. 

The newsboy took from his pocket a member- 
ship card of the Boyville Newsboys' Association. 

"Do you know any thing about the association 
of newsboys ?" asked the seller. 

"Yes, sir, I know all about them. ,, 



BOYVILLE. 165 

"This is my reference/' the boy replied hand- 
ing him the card on which the man read — "He 
does not approve of swearing, stealing, lying etc." 

To the boy's surprise and disgust, the gentle- 
man took the card crumpled it in his hand, and 
threw it upon the floor, remarking: "that's no 
reference — that's no good in business." 

The boy picked it up, and, to use his own lan- 
guage, said: 

"I waited until my temper cooled down and 
I asked him, 'can you say you never swore, never 
stole any thing, never gambled, never cheated any 
one ? I can, sir, and that's what that card means. 
I wouldn't work for you.' Oh, I hit him hard. 
As I was leaving he called me back, but I said, 
'if you would give me five thousand dollars a year 
I wouldn't work for you. You have not only in- 
sulted me but the association." 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Before Boyville was thought of, a personal in- 
vestigation into the home-life of over a hundred 
boys was made, and this covered a period of three 
years. Of the one hundred who were gradua- 
ting from the street work as newsboys not more 
than thirty were engaged in a business that would 
lead them to fortune or fame. Seventy were sat- 
isfied with making a living by earnings of vice 
and petty crimes. It was learned that a boy who 
was permitted to go on in his own way would have 
no useful training for later work. The seventy 
boys followed the rule of men in wrong-doing. 
"No man is guilty until caught," is the general 
rule of men who make it a business of stealing. 

The progress of any humanitarian legislation 
is gradual. 

No one ever stopped to make inquiry about a 
newsboy. He lived in a business, and social cir- 
cle, all by himself. He was left to shift for him- 
self and in a most unequal battle. 

When investigation revealed the deplorable 
fact that seventy per cent, of our newsboys were 
being educated and trained with their faces to- 



BOYVILLE. 167 

wards jails and penitentiaries, the question arose, 
how can we reduce this number, how can we turn 
their faces towards a better life, a happier condi- 
tion, a delightful ending? How make them hon- 
orable citizens, good men, loved by all who know 
them, an honor to themselves, to their parents, 
their friends, the State and city in which they 
live? 

The problem solved itself in personal exper- 
iences, convincing us that we must try to catch 
the candidates for prison before they have been 
debased and to keep them decent. "It is the 
Christian, decent, brotherly way for one thing, 
and it is the cheapest way in dollars and cents for 
another." 

It is a rule, rather than an exception, that 
people have always considered a newsboy bad, and 
he is therefore treated accordingly. 

Everybody knows or can soon learn to know, 
that the street is the great school of crime. Bet- 
ting and gambling are typical of the combination 
of work and play of man and boy that street work 
produces. 

One of the greatest evils of the street was that 
of begging; of boys working on the sympathies 



168 BOYVILLE. 

of the public by taking advantage of men and 
women on street-cars or in public places. 

Some boys made a business of begging, the 
majority not from their own choice, but by com- 
pulsion of their parents. 

One boy in particular was doing more to in- 
jure the success of the association's work on the 
street than hundreds of others who were bad in 
other lines. 

The father of this boy would wait until the 
theatres were out, at night, and instruct the boy 
to "work the car," by begging, and if that failed 
by forcing papers upon young men who were 
compelled to purchase what they did not want. 

It took some time, almost a year, to stop this 
kind of business, and then the president had to 
call upon the efficient Humane officer to stop it. 
As every case of begging was traced to the fault 
of parents the Humane Society had to deal direct- 
ly with them. 

The Boyville association gradually stamped 
this evil entirely out. 

To stop begging, stealing, swearing and 
gambling, four leading street evils among the 
newsboys and in guiding the footsteps of these 
little wanderers, for this they are when seen upon 




TWO NEW MEMBERS. 



BOYVILLE. 169 

the streets of our great cities, that Boyville came 
into existence, and it is to co-operate, when it 
is possible or desirable, with the parents and the 
home in reclaiming boys who have gone astray or 
are likely to follow paths that lead to ruin. 

There is no greater, stronger sign of love to 
young or old than when a friend gives a warn- 
ing in the right spirit. 

The children of Israel had no better friend 
than Moses, and when they obeyed his warning 
they never went astray. We may be wrong in 
our liberal methods of giving to charity ; we may 
be wrong in dropping pennies into the hats of 
the street beggars — the blind — the lame — the 
crippled who stand or sit on our public streets 
pleading in a tone of experience; and we may 
be satisfying an ever-warning conscience; but 
there is one thing certain, we can never make a 
mistake by warning a newsboy from doing any- 
thing wrong — from stealing, lying, swearing, or 
gambling, and it is always wise and safe to give 
a boy the right start in life. 

In every city, with a population of one hun- 
dred thousand or more, thirty per cent, of the 
newsboys, the sellers, have no homes or their 
homes are worse than none at all. If men and 



i 7 o BOYVILLE. 

women would stop to think, to investigate, listen 
to the stories as told by these street boys ; of the 
wants, miseries and degradation in the sad con- 
ditions that surround many of them ; these dirty, 
ragged boys would receive a more Christian-like 
attention and care. If your nature to mingle with 
the meek and lowly is forced, if your mission for 
doing good in this world is cast in other fields, 
where better results may be reached, you can take 
a personal interest in seeing that those who are 
familiar with work among street boys, and who 
delight in trying to aid them, are given proper 
encouragement and assistance so that their work 
may be carried on successfully. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

A few months' experience with boys who 
spend most of their lives upon the street, and pride 
themselves on being tough, will teach one a great 
lesson. You will learn you cannot reach a boy 
unless you get near him, are of his kind ; and the 
most lasting and truest friendship, and through 
which you can gain the best results, is where you 
place a boy under personal obligations to you, 
through kindness. You may buy him for money, 
but he does not look upon you with the same in- 
terest and confidence as when you gain his love 
through personal attention. The boy must be un- 
derstood. No two boys are alike. Though many 
are endowed with similar characteristics, each has 
his own individuality. The trees are not all of 
one kind. Even the leaves on the same tree differ 
in size and contour. One tree in the writer's 
yard, one of the choicest of plums ; a long branch 
sprouted out every spring and grew so rapidly 
that before the leaves in the fall began to show 
signs of decay, it became strong and reached 
several feet beyond any other branch. It made 
the tree look awkward, unnatural, but when 



172 BOYVILLE. 

trimmed down, even with the others, it produced 
more and better fruit than any other portion of 
the tree. The boys are like the birds who are un- 
like in plumage and song; the flowers in color 
and fragrance, and yet nature would not be 
perfect were it not for these different lines of 
beauty, strength, and fragrance. 

In the cultivation of plants the gardner con- 
siders the nature and needs of different stages of 
growth, furnishing the nourishment and care that 
will be most helpful just at that time. So in boy- 
hood we observe various stages of development, 
whose natures and needs must be studied that we 
may properly provide for them. 

It has been said : "That the home, the church, 
the school with their natural and uplifting influ- 
ences have been responsible in the past, and must 
continue to be in the future, for the manhood and 
womanhood of this nation." It is a well-known 
fact that the home sometimes fails, or there is no 
home, or one which the church and the school do 
not reach. There are times when even these have 
no power over a boy's acts. A boy who violates 
the laws of the land is answerable not to the home, 
the church or the school, but to the State, 



BOYVILLE. 173 

Crime among boys, in America, is greatly on 
the increase. The reports, official and unofficial, 
that are made public, of the per cent, of the crim- 
inals serving time in our jails, workhouses, re- 
form schools, and even our penitentiaries, are as- 
tounding, and almost beyond belief. 

How to check this is a problem of the great- 
est importance, and it cannot be solved without 
the hearty co-operation of every person. 

Among the first things to be done must be 
the recognition of the power of home and our 
neighbors. We cannot live without our neighbor. 
Each home depends upon some other home; and 
when the boy leaves his home to go upon the 
street, he is at once overcome by the stronger 
power and influence of a boy of some other home, 
and, perhaps where the rearing and training was 
not good. The boy is a result more or less, of all 
influences and environment of the lives of his 
companions. Every good mother recalls the pang 
that came over her heart when for the first time 
she led her boy to school, knowing that her in- 
fluence must be shared with that of the teacher. 
It is not long until the boy quotes his teacher, and 
sometimes in defiance, when he says : "My teach- 
er says so an' so." And how many times we hear 



174 BOYVILLE. 

this from the boy when away from home, more 
frequently than the sayings of his mother. The 
boys school life soon begins to develop self-reli- 
ance, full of possibilities, of curiosity and quest- 
ionings, the period of formation of thoughts, 
feelings and desires. And when a boy reaches 
that stage in his life when he is permitted to go 
down town alone — he at once begins a new life. 
And there is not a mother in our country but 
who makes this pleading request to her son as he 
is about to start: "Don't go into bad company." 

It is on this line that the Newsboys' Associa- 
tion, with all its varied interests and objects, 
through its many channels of work, backed with 
that true spirit of Christianity characteristic of 
everything that means good, with the aid of its 
president and its many working officers, in the 
name of God and humanity, aims to make the 
bad boy of the streets of our cities and towns 
good, so that the mother will not find it necessary 
to say: "Now, my dear son, don't go into bad 
company." 

Let us all hope, and pray, and work for the 
time to come when there will be no "bad compa- 
ny" on the streets. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

At one of the auxiliary meetings the question 
was asked a carrier, why the association "kicked 
against drinking whiskey when my father drinks 
four times a day." In a talk at the meeting the 
vice-president said : "Your father may have been 
a respected citizen. He was all right when he 
started out, but today he is a physical wreck, I 
know him. He drinks too much. He paid no at- 
tention to warning. Perhaps he had no one to 
tell him. He trembles now, and I have seen him 
fall to the ground, helpless. Some day he will 
fall and get up no more. Every boy has in his 
mind a real desire to do good, but if you start in 
life as a whiskey drinker, if you stand around and 
see your friends drink without giving them a 
warning, some day you will regret it, something 
will come up in your life to remind you of your 
carlessness, your lost opportunity to help a fellow 
being, and his ruin means more to you than you 
think it does. 

"There was a man once rowing in a small boat 
above Niagara Falls, where the water was quiet. 
He got funny and ventured down stream too far 



176 BOYVILLE. 

until he got into the current and not having 
strength enough to pull out of it, he was going 
faster and every second he saw certain destruc- 
tion ahead of him. It was too late for him to 
think and act. The thinking should have been 
done up the river on peaceful waters. So you 
boys better do your thinking now if you don't 
want to follow that kind of people over the brink. 
No, boys, don't drink intoxicating liquors, don't 
start it, cut it out, forget it. 

We do not believe that temperance is really 
promoted by compulsion, but this we do know, 
that the boy who will let whiskey and all spirits 
alone is very fortunate, and has a bright, happy 
future. He is the boy who will succeed ; he is 
the young man that is wanted ; he will be the man 
to be trusted." 




TENEMENTS ON THE AVENUE. 
IN THESE OLD BUILDINGS, AT ONE TIME, LIVED 

SEVENTEEN FAMILIES. 

Ser Pjge 17S 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

The problem of the boy is a great one, and 
the more we have to do with his life upon the 
street the greater the task of solution becomes. 
It is said that two great factors make the sum of 
human life — heredity and environment. We are 
told that if you will gather up soil from the arctic 
regions and carry it on a steamer southward, you 
will soon see it covered with vegetation. If the 
soil of the tropics is taken to the frozen regions of 
Franz Joseph Land, it will become barren. The 
soil of both regions is full of heredity, but the 
difference of environment greatly modifies the 
result. There are in all of us hereditary tenden- 
cies to both vice and virtue, and under favorable 
surroundings, these tendencies will be either dor- 
mant or developed. 

A thief may come from a morally healthy fam- 
ily, a happy prosperous home, but he is an un- 
healthy exception not the rule. It is the offense 
of our day that the tendency of life is toward des- 
truction of character. The crowding of popula- 
tion to the cities, is gradually destroying the home 
feeling. This rapidly increasing rush from the 



i 7 8 BOYVILLE. 

country and small towns to the centres of indi- 
vidual energy, brings a dependent class of boys, 
and the official reports show a significant in- 
crease in the number of juvenile criminals, from 
small towns, and also that they are much younger 
than formerly. This does not mean that the en- 
ergetic young man of the country should stay 
away from the cities, or should not seek employ- 
ment or business in a city; it simply means that 
christian people should take a greater personal 
interest in trying to make the boy good before he 
leaves his home, and that the city people should 
make city life purer. 

So long as our best reputed citizens, the first 
men of many of our churches, own the dilapidated 
tenement houses, receiving from such occupants a 
rental sufficient to pay taxes, and without caring 
who occupies the premises or for what purposes, 
the criminal tendency must increase. 

For a time charitably-inclined people may 
check and partially correct an evil, but the ten- 
dency will remain, sure to assert itself in one 
form or another. If the present cheap- John ten- 
ements should be wiped out, and it were made 
possible for the proper classes to secure homes in 
the country, modest as necessarily they would be, 



BOYVILLE. 179 

it would go a long way towards correcting one 
of the greatest evils of the day. 

"The prison returns of one of our great States 
show that fifty per cent, of all young criminals 
come from bad homes, from tenement houses 
owned by rich men, and only nine per cent, from 
good homes." 

Since the Humane societies are so well or- 
ganized, and doing such magnificent work, much 
may be expected for the better in the condition 
of the houses of the poor. There are many streets 
in our great cities where people shudder when 
compelled to walk, on account of their bad re- 
putation. 

The tenants may be bad, but are they worse 
than the owners of the property ? Have you ever 
stopped to think who owns a building under 
whose roof lives a dozen bad characters ? 

One Sunday morning, a gentleman in the city 
was walking down an avenue of considerable 
importance when he was surprised to see two 
young newsboys coming out of the rear door of 
a saloon, each trying to keep the other from fall- 
ing to the ground. 

The building was old and rickety. On the sec- 



180 BOYVILLE. 

ond floor were not a half dozen whole panes of 
glass in eight window frames. 

Astonished at this, a question was asked, of 
a passer-by who owned the saloon property? 

"Mr. owns all the property on that 

side of the street. He is now teaching a Sunday- 
school class while boys are in his building drink- 
ing. This thing's repeated every Sunday. It's 
headquarters for young men." 

When our leading men of business, our weal- 
thy citizens, men of influence, men who stand 
high in the commercial world, are renting their 
property to persons who, for the money they 
make, are ruining hundreds of young lives, what 
can we expect ? 

We need an era of enforcement of law, less 
of pretense, more of purpose. Whether the laws 
be good or bad, is not a question. If they are 
good, they should be enforced for the welfare of 
the community and the vindication of the State. 
If they are bad, they should be enforced so that 
their injustice may prove sufficiently oppressive 
to lead to their appeal. 

The saloons will always be with us, and so 
long as the State, and the city receive the price for 
their existence, and grant them recognition and 



BOYVILLE. 181 

endorsement, they should be protected in accord- 
ance with the laws governing their business, but 
beyond all this, there is a law, a moral law, a law 
of decency, of respect, for the welfare and hap- 
piness of mankind, that should appeal to every 
man engaged in the selling of liquors. 

Five men, of our acquaintance, engaged in 
the saloon business, have for many years mutu- 
ally agreed to do certain things. They do not 
open their places of business on Sunday. They 
do not admit a minor into their saloons for any 
cause. They will not sell liquor to a man who 
shows the least sign of being intoxicated. 

If every man engaged in the saloon business 
would follow to the letter these few simple rules, 
thousands of good wives, and innocent children 
would be happy, and the influence for good could 
not. be estimated. Our Sunday-closing laws 
should be enforced. 

The lives of a majority of men, hard-working 
men, are dreary enough for six days of the week 
without having all of the desolation compressed 
into the seventh and drilled into them through 
the avarice of selfish men who aim to take advan- 
tage of a man under the influence of liquor, and 



182 BOYVILLE. 

take from him his last cent and then throw him 
into the street. 

We are learning to regard the majority of 
youthful offenders, especially in our large cities, 
as the victims of environment, sufferers from lack 
of opportunity for good. In nine cases out of 
ten, boys who are found in saloons come from 
well-to-do families, and are permitted to be there 
through neglect and carelessness of their parents 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

A question is often asked, why young men do 
not more frequently attend church services. May 
not one of these reasons be traced to neglect and 
carelessness on the part of the parents ? Nothing 
in the religious world can be more important 
than the proper training of young men. It is said 
that the only place where real religion can be 
taught is in the home. By this it is not meant 
religious forms, but real religion. To go to 
church every Sunday and sing religious 
hymns and listen to eloquent sermons is 
not all there is to religion. The formation of 
character, the stimulus of the moral sentiments 
must be done largely outside of the doors of the 
church. To assist in building up the boy who 
roams our streets at will, and to take an interest 
in and to encourage the boy to live up to and fol- 
low the instructions he receives at his home, is, 
indeed, to practice real religion. 

It is a well-known fact, often repeated by the 
guards at our penitentiaries, that no man ever 
entered these institutions but what at sometime 
or other declared that, if he had followed the 



184 BOYVILLE. 

admonition and religious instructions of his fa- 
ther and mother, his life would have been differ- 
ent. If father and mother do not practice in their 
daily lives this real religion, and if the boy is not 
brought up to believe that some people are to be 
avoided, and held in contempt, all the churches 
in the world cannot correct such mistakes, be- 
cause they have but few hours one day in a week 
to accomplish what six days can undo. 

It will be seen, then, how important it is that 
the boy on the street, whether he comes from a 
good religious home or a bad home, should be 
watched and carefully guided and taught. 

Our work in the garden is not to pull out on- 
ions, radishes, tomato plants, but carefully to de- 
stroy the weeds, and not only those weeds that 
are crowding the tender plants, but all weeds. 
Get the wild sprouts out, pull up the weeds by the 
roots and throw them away. This a good gar- 
dener will do, and he will carefully pull the soft, 
rich earth around the plants to brace them up. 

If the same interest is taken in our newsboys, 
to pull out the weeds so that the boy can grow, 
it will be doing what the preacher often says: 
"A good man's goodness lies not hid in himself 




WAITING FOR THE LAST EDITION. 



BOYVILLE. 185 

alone; but when he endeavors to strengthen his 
weaker brother." 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Men often lose great opportunities to assist 
their fellow-men through neglect, through care- 
lessness and indifference. It is so easy to say, 
"you have my sympathy, you are doing a noble 
work," when many times the speaker may be 
better adapted for the same kind of work and be 
far more successful. And so an opportunity is 
allowed to slip by all for the lack of taking ad- 
vantage of it. 

The influence a man or a woman teacher has 
over a boy is wonderful. In the eyes of a boy, a 
teacher stands for a model of perfection and is 
supposed to be in reality, in daily life and actions, 
what he seems to be when he shows his best side 
to the pupils. 

From the school, from the teacher, from a 
trusted friend, the boy carries the influence back 
to the family, into his daily life upon the streets, 
and many of the teachings follow him through 
life. The boy at school is taught to be kind, to be 
generous, and to remember his little friends 
whenever opportunity favors. Heartfelt sympa- 
thy in a newsboy, comes like a flash of lightning, 



BOYVILLE. 187 

and he is ever ready to fall in line when the boys 
want to remember a friend. The president was 
taken by surprise one day when the street sellers, 
the poorest of our newsboys, through one of their 
hustlers, presented him with a gold badge. The 
money to purchase it was raised by subscriptions 
from the boys, in amounts ranging from two cents 
to twenty-five. A few days after the presentation 
the president was walking on one of the main 
streets when he was accosted by a little seller, 
from the opposite side of the street. 

"Say, president, come over here." 

A boy never called the president to go where 
he wanted him to go but he complied at once, and 
cheerfully. The little ragged fellow stepped in 
front of him and said : 

"Pres., have youse got de gold badge we gives 
you?" 

"Yes, here it is," and the badge was taken 
from the coat and handed to the boy. Looking at 
it closely, and calling several companions to him, 
he said : 

"Pres., youse see that diamond in the center?" 
pointing a dirty finger to it. 

"Yes, sir, we all see it, and it's a beauty." 

"Well, you see," he said straightening up 



1 88 BOYVILLE. 

above his natural height, "I subscribed four cents 
to this here badge, and all the boys put up the 
dough. When I went home and thought it over, 
I says to myself, we ought to have a bigger badge 
than this fur our president. So when I comes 
down town I see de boys and we concluded to have 
a diamond put in the center. It met wid de kids 
'proval, and it was done. You see de diamond ?" 

"Yes," replied a dozen voices. 

"Well, I blowed eleven cents in it," he proudly 
replied. Adding, "Ain't it a bird?" 

Happy youth. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

How many prayers have been offered for the 
salavation of the slums ; how many sighs and ex- 
pressions of regret and sympathy have been 
given, by well-meaning people, for the "poor and 
unhealthy boys of the slums." 

Those who are familiar, and it is to be re- 
gretted that they are so few, with the real con- 
ditions of these, supposed, unhealthy and cer- 
tainly unpleasant districts, will substantiate the 
declaration that the boys who live there, in these 
ill-favored spots, and who have followed the vo- 
cation of selling papers or shining shoes, until 
they arrived at that age when it was necessary 
to seek other and more lucrative employment, 
are ninety per cent, healthier and stronger and 
better able to fight disease than boys raised in the 
most sanitary districts and in wealthy families. 
The slums of Whitechapel and Westminster, in 
London, inhabitated by a squalid and criminal 
population, as well as the slums in New York and 
other American cities, maintain a healthier con- 
dition among the inhabitants. 



igo BOYVILLE. 

In a period of six years, with an enrollment 
of two hundred and fifty newsboys, who belonged 
to the sellers auxiliary; a majority of them living 
in what is called "the worst part of the city, the 
most unhealthy ; the most degraded ; the most un- 
desirable/' and boys who from necessity were 
compelled to sell papers or shine shoes, thus re- 
quiring an almost daily appearance upon the 
streets in all kinds of weather, there were but 
three cases of sickness, and but one death, and 
this death was caused by an explosion at a Fourth 
of July celebration. 

Little Barney Frank, one of the brightest and 
most promising members of the association died 
January 28, 1903, having been injured by a toy 
cannon. 

The president attended the funeral of this 
little boy and being asked to say something touch- 
ing the life of his friend, he said : 

"Barney was an exceptionally bright and 
happy boy, loved by his companions, and almost 
worshiped by his heart-broken parents. His 
happy disposition, his smiles and great interest 
in his fellow newsboys will live forever in the 
hearts of those who knew him. It is often asked 
why are the young and innocent taken from us? 



BOYVILLE. 191 

Some of us believe that the road to heaven opens 
wide to welcome little boys. 

"One of the most pleasing remembrances of 
Barney's life was shown in the following incident. 
It was a cold November evening, with a heavy 
fall of rain and sleet. I was standing in the street 
looking for a car to take me home, when little 
Barney came running to me and said: 'You go 
in the store, in a dry place, I'll watch for the car 
and I'll call you,' and in spite of protestations, he 
stood in the rain until the car passed. So it was 
always with Barney, ever looking after the hap- 
piness of his friends." 

They took the remains to another town, and 
buried him in a village graveyard. There he rests 
in peace. In summer the grass grows green and 
the daisies and violets keep watch ; and in a tree, 
whose branches shade the unmarked grave, there 
comes a robin red-breast, and every morning at 
the rising of the sun, and every evening just as 
the sun is sinking behind the hills, he sings his 
song of love. 

Who knows but that it is an angel who comes 
to the grave of that little newsboy. ? 




BILLY BUTCHER, WE MUST HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING 
WHICH CORNER OB DE STREET WILL YOU TAKE?" 



TART SEVENTH 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

After more than fifteen years' experience 
among the newsboys we can say with consider- 
able force, that the only way to give substantial 
assistance to the poor boy is to give him a start 
in life, helping him to work his own way through 
a hundred little temptations that would easily lead 
him wrong. Today Boyville Association boasts 
that it has driven from the streets of a great city 
all kinds of begging, gambling, swearing, smok- 
ing cigarettes, and instead of insulting, impudent 
newsboys, we have the finest lot of gentlemanly 
young business men in the world. 

How to carry on successfully work of this 
kind, with results as previously stated, is the de- 
sire and wish of thousands of people in our coun- 
try today. A person must bring himself in touch 
with the boy, he must learn his ways, his habits, 
by so doing he learns the best way to approach 
him and gain his confidence. This done, the rest 
is easy, because the boy works with you and you 
simply guide. 

Education cannot be given, it must be 
achieved, and the value of an education lies not 



196 BOYVILLE. 

only in the possession, but also in the struggle to 
secure it. 

Everybody knows that the infallible receipt 
for happiness, is to do good, and under the right 
conditions it is as natural for character to become 
beautiful as for a flower. In scores of instances it 
has been seen that the principles early established 
in the minds of the street-boys, especially where 
they are watched by their companions, and 
warned when they do something wrong, leave a 
lasting impression that time cannot efface. 

Life is full of opportunities for the young man 
to do good, and if in his early career he begins 
to do right it soon becomes part of his life. The 
street-boys who first join the association are so 
gradually led into the good fellowship of their 
own making that the toughest natures thaw out, 
they are subjugated, submit cheerfully to the con- 
trolling powers of truth and honesty. Their man- 
ners soften, their words become more gentle and 
their actions show a willingness to be little gentle- 
men. The good that is in them is brought out 
by their own unselfish acts, and the hidden sleep- 
ing humanity bursts into a fuller life. 

Today it takes a high order of men to suc- 
ceed. 



BOYVILLE. 197 

With the world as a competitor, where profits 
are figured by fractions, it requires young men 
of brains, combined with hard common sense, 
men of good moral characters, and a willingness 
to work. 

For a young man to reach a rich inheritance 
he must work; he must remember that the root 
qualities of character are sobriety, industry, un- 
selfish economy, and he must be honest in all 
that the word implies. Swearing, stealing, 
grafting inclinations, expecting something for 
nothing, smoking cigarettes or drinking intoxi- 
cating liquors will prevent securing good posi- 
tions. 

Already some of our great railroad systems 
will not employ a young man who drinks intoxi- 
cating liquors, or smoke cigarettes ; and some go 
so far as to forbid swearing while on duty. 

To gain this rich inheritance, to build up the 
boy who has no chance in life, who, in many 
cities, is regarded as a sort of a pest, something 
to be kicked and cuffed out of the way, is the great 
aim of the Boyville Newsboys' Association. It 
is a kindergarten in the great school of business 
and citizenship, and many years experience proves 
conclusively not only that the boy of the street is 



198 BOYVILLE. 

capable of conquering himself, and of mastering 
his own will-power, but also that he can assist his 
companions, to be honest, patriotic, and self-re- 
liant. 

Many a boy goes astray simply because home 
lacks sunshine. If home is the place where faces 
are sour and words harsh, and the boy is continu- 
ally hampered with dont's and censures, he will 
spend as many hours as possible elsewhere. A 
personal investigation of twenty homes of boys 
who were upon the streets a greater portion of 
their time, especially at meal hours or after nine 
o'clock at night, revealed the fact that nine boys 
were away from their homes on account of there 
being no restriction on the part of the parents. 
These nine families did not know, did not care, at 
what hour their sons returned at night, or wheth- 
er they were at home at meal hours or not. 

Home should keep in sympathy with a boy. 
His little troubles, his sorrows are made much 
easier and lighter through attention and sympa- 
thy, and if the boy can't get this at home he will 
go elsewhere; and he will often find it in society 
he would otherwise shun. No boy ever grows too 
old for love. And should the boy seek compan- 
ionship in our crowded streets and discover some 



BOYVILLE. 199 

one in whom he can place confidence, his whole 
life is wrapped up in that love. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

In the Boyville Association it has always been 
the rule that, no matter how great a wrong com- 
mitted by a boy, and the fine or sentence be what 
it may, if the boy looks forward to doing better, 
to putting his whole soul into trying to do right, 
if he hates and despises the act committed, that 
boy has a right to be honorably reinstated, and is 
heartily welcomed back to his friends. 

"Often" says a thoughtful writer, "men and 
women mourn over past wrong-doings with 
which their present identity has no connection." 

A good preacher once asked a despondent soul, 
whose life was shadowed by a wrong committed 
in early years : "Would you do the same thing 
again ?" 

"Do it again?" answered the man, "No, a 
thousand times, no." 

"Then," said the preacher, "You have out- 
grown the conditions that caused the wrong-do- 
ing, and you are no longer responsible for it." 

The best way to correct wrong-doing is to 
prevent it, to warn a boy against the evil vices 




See Page 205 



BOYVILLE. 201 

that tend to his ruin in later years. And one way 
to prevent crime is to reward virtue. 

Hon. Ben. B. Lindsey, of Denver, Colorado, 
Judge of the County and Juvenile Court of Den- 
ver, after many years of hard work, intermingled 
with the kind of experience that brings good re- 
sults, declares that in the work of the Juvenile 
Court he has found a way to make our boys of 
today, who are inclined to be bad, follow paths of 
virtue and honesty that will lead them to good 
and honorable citizenship, and his success has 
been along the same self-governing plan of the 
Boyville Association. 

We do not think there has been a more inter- 
esting official report nor one of so great a value 
to the thinking people as the publication of "The 
Problem of the Children and How the State of 
Colorado Cares for them," by Hon. Ben. B. Lind- 
sey. 

"Power under any law," writes Judge Lind- 
sey, "may be abused. Mistakes under any law 
may be made. No system is perfect. If any con- 
ceives the idea that the Juvenile Court was cre- 
ated for the purpose of correcting or reforming 
every disorderly child, they are, of course, mis- 
taken. Jails and criminal courts never did that. 



202 BOYVILLE. 

On the contrary, criminality among the youth of 
this country has been amazingly on the increase. 
Over half of the inmates of jails, reformatories 
and prisons combined are under twenty-four 
years of age. They are there largely because of 
uncorrected delinquency in childhood. While the 
Juvenile Court and probation system will not, 
and cannot, entirely overcome delinquency and 
waywardness, it will do a great deal better than 
the jail and criminal court ever did. The Juve- 
nile Court generally deals with cases in which 
there has been a failure in the home, the school, 
and often the church. These three institutions 
are the places through their various influences to 
form the character of the child. The Juvenile 
Court is rather an aid to the home and the school 
in the moral training of the child. If these two 
latter fail, the court, through its officers, can sup- 
ply the deficiency. In the Denver Juvenile Court 
none are convicted of crime or subjected to the 
contamination of the jail. 

"The Juvenile Court does not tolerate the idea 
of the child being a criminal. It does not con- 
sider the question of punishment the important 
thing. If the child cannot be corrected at home, 
for its own good and for the good of society at 



BOYVILLE. 203 

large, it is simply sent to a State public school, 
where discipline is superior to that of the home, 
and where it is intended to correct waywardness 
and to serve as an example to prevent wayward- 
ness in others. The purpose is, in delinquent 
cases, to inspire and receive obedience, to im- 
prove and strengthen character. We never re- 
lease a boy upon probation until he is impressed 
with the idea that he must obey. It is explained 
what the consequences will be if he does not obey 
and keep his word. It is kindly, but firmly im- 
pressed why all this is so, and why, after all, he 
is the one we are most interested in and that it is 
for him we are working and not against him. We 
want him to work with us and not against us. He 
must, to do this, obey in the home, in the school, 
and of course, he must obey the laws of the land 
and respect the rights of others. We must know 
that he obeys. We know this by reports from the 
school, signed by the teacher, every two weeks; 
by reports from the neighborhood, when neces- 
sary to investigate, and frequently, by reports 
from the home, and, in exceptional cases, visits 
to the home. And more important than all this 
is the trust and confidence we impose upon the boy 
himself through the administrative work of the 



204 BOYVILLE. 

Court. We arouse his sense of responsibility. 
We understand him as best we can, and we make 
him understand us as best we can." 

Nothing could be said or written of the his- 
tory of Boyville and the intention of its workers 
that could explain the great object in view better 
than the above report. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

There is a city ordinance in Chicago which 
prohibits fishing in the lakes of the city parks, and 
persons caught doing so are treated as trespass- 
ers. No one would blame a boy for wanting to 
fish. 

A boy, ten years old, left home with line and 
hook for one of these artificial lakes. After se- 
curing a pole from the drift-wood near-by, he 
sought an inviting spot to fish; and amid the 
green bushes, the songs of the birds and the 
breeze that brought sunshine to his young heart, 
he cast his line into the peaceful uninhabitated 
waters. 

A protector of the peace, a defender of the 
law, saw this little boy fishing in public waters. 
While earnestly waiting for a bite the boy was 
arrested. He was taken, by the policeman, to the 
station. He did not have any friends to give bond 
for him, so they locked him up and left him there 
all night in a cell alongside of men who were in 
there swearing and cursing, using the vilest of 
language. He was placed with hardened people 
whose association could not be anything but in- 



206 BOYVILLE. 

jurious to a ten-year-old boy. Next day he was 
brought into Police Court, accused of fishing in 
the lake, sentenced for violating this great and 
important law of the city of Chicago, and sent to 
the work-house, to serve a time in the city prison. 

This was twenty years ago, and, just such in- 
cidents as this, caused good honest-thinking peo- 
ple to try to introduce something that would pro- 
tect and care for similar cases. Now, the boy who 
violates a law is not arrested and placed in jail or 
even a Police Station, but under the splendid 
Juvenile Court system the boy is brought into the 
presence of a judge who has an opportunity of 
showing what he would like to do in other courts, 
by extending an encouraging hand to the way- 
faring boy. 

The boy is greeted kindly and the strange feel- 
ing, which even men and women have under sim- 
ilar circumstances, is removed. Instead of the 
judge looking stearnly at the criminal, as has been 
too often the custom, thinking, perhaps justly, the 
dignity of the law requires it, he kindly explains 
to the boy where he has made a mistake, where he 
has violated some law; and after gaining the 
friendship and confidence of the little offender, 
he is placed in charge of a kind-hearted Proba- 



BOYVILLE. 207 

tion Officer, who personally looks after the in- 
terests and welfare of the accused. The Juvenile 
Court has power to require the boy to go to 
school, and the boy is impressed with the fact 
that it is for his benefit. Truant boys are looked 
after by this method, and the Probation Officer 
goes so far as to visit the homes of the boys to 
learn their surroundings. This has been the 
means of influencing many families to take better 
care of their homes and to keep things in a neat 
and tidy condition. This has never been accom- 
plished before by any methods of a legal nature. 
With the valuable work of the Juvenile Court 
and the Humane societies, together with the self- 
governing plan of the Newsboys associations, all 
working harmoniously, what must naturally be 
expected of the boy? The home is the natural 
environment in which to develop a boy in the di- 
rection of true, self-sustaining manhood; and it 
should furnish the conditions most likely to bring 
about the happiest results, not only to the individ- 
ual and the family, but also to the State. When 
this fails, as it often does, the Juvenile Court steps 
in and the results are wonderful. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Boyville has made itself known to all classes 
of citizens, and has attracted intelligent attention 
throughout the country. The newsboys have 
learned to work together harmoniously, and this 
is one of the valuable secrets of human society 
that all must learn in order to be successful and 
happy. In the auxiliary monthly meetings the 
newsboys conduct the business with more de- 
corum and intelligence than the average political 
conventions. So much for the self-governing 
plan. 

The following interesting talk on "The Evils 
of Cigarette Smoking" was part of an address 
delivered at one of the Sunday afternoon meet- 
ings, and is well worth the time spent in reading : 

"Smoking cigarettes causes both insanity and 
the degeneracy that ends in crime. The cigarette 
slave is always enfeebled in body, in mind, or in 
moral sense, and generally in all three. What- 
ever be the cause — whether it is opium and other 
drugs mixed with tobacco, or oil created in the 
paper by burning, or the immediate absorption of 
the nicotine from the lungs by the blood, to be 



BOYVILLE. 209 

lodged in every nerve and brain-cell in the sys- 
tem — the fact remains beyond dispute that the 
cigarette is a deadly poison. 

"It not only deprives the blood of the proper 
quantity of oxygen and thus prevents its purifica- 
tion, but it also loads it with filth, so that the heart 
becomes clogged and the delicate convolutions of 
the brain, upon which the mind's attitude toward 
intellectual concepts and moral principles depends, 
are paralyzed. Cigarette smoking also creates a 
perpetual irritation, like unquenchable thirst, in 
the nervous system. It sets up a continual dis- 
comfort, a kind of a gnawing in the nerves, 
which makes the victim eternally uneasy except 
while he is inhaling the poison into his lungs. 
The result of all this is, that he lives in a constant 
state of nervous excitement, which reacts upon 
his poisoned brain and makes him incapable of 
serious and consecutive thought. His body is 
weary all the time, except when it is being stimu- 
lated by the alcohol which cigarette slaves inevit- 
ably seek and find, and at last cannot do without. 
It is a fact that crime and cigarettes nearly al- 
ways go together. Prison records show that 
criminals, almost without exception, are cigar- 
ette slaves. Such is the history of the cigarette 



210 BOYVILLE. 

slave, and while, if he is a natural man of good 
family history, education, intelligence and ample 
means, he may- avoid crime, yet he is in eternal 
danger. Boys, newsboys, for your own interest 
and welfare, for the love you have for your par- 
ents, if you are cigarette smokers, stop it at once. 
If not— do not begin." 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The question is often asked: "Do you want 
us to go out upon the streets and bring those rag- 
ged, dirty boys with us into our churches, and 
have them sit in the same pew with us ?" 

No, indeed, no. Both you and the boys would 
be unhappy. 

The idea is for you to take an interest in pre- 
paring them for your church. To shove them out 
of your way, into the gutter, and say, "they are 
only newsboys/' will never bring these boys to 
you or into your churches. They are the strayed 
sheep. 

When upon the street you meet these "dirty 
brats," instead of avoiding them, of paying no at- 
tention to them, say pleasantly, "Good morning," 
and say it in a tone that means you are sincere 
and really wish them a very good morning. That 
would be easy and a thousand times better than 
to throw them money, as you, perhaps, have often 
done, to get rid of them, or thinking you have 
done them a great act of charity. All this costs 
you nothing. 

Instead of having in your heart the desire to 



212 BOYVILLE. 

destroy; encourage the desire to rescue, to uplift. 
Instead of hating, cultivate love. "Go forth into 
the world and seek for light and light is yours." 

If you would learn the secret of real happi- 
ness, mingle with the children. They are messen- 
gers which come to bless. 

But you must understand them. They will 
teach you things you never knew or dreamed of. 

A speaker at one of the auxiliary meetings 
asked a boy to give him an illustration of, "who 
is my neighbor ?" 

He answered : "This morning I shoveled off 
the snow from the sidewalks in front of our house. 
After I got through I went across the street and 
cleaned the snow from the sidewalks of a widow 
lady. A friend passing asked me 'why I did it/ 
I replied 'why, she's our neighbor'." 

We often hear it said that time is wasted in 
trying to save these newsboys, not perhaps be- 
cause of the boy himself, but because of that 
which makes him what he is. It is argued that 
his environment, the influences which surround 
him from the day of his birth, will make him a 
criminal in spite of all we can do. 

The Bible holds man responsible. 

If you kind reader, believe in God, believe in 



BOYVILLE. 213 

the Bible, you will find the divine law (Ezekiel 
XXXIII.) determines your personal responsibil- 
ity. "So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a 
watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore 
thou shalt hear the word at my mouth. If thou 
dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, 
that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his 
blood will I require at thy hand. Nevertheless, if 
thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it ; 
if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his 
iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul." 

Following down the ages the same responsi- 
bility is required of Christians (James IV- 17) : 
"To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it 
not, to him it is a sin." 

The man who fails to rise above the level of 
his own selfish interests is the man to whom these 
apply. 

The church, at large, today, is like what Na- 
poleon once said: "The army that remains in 
its entrenchments is beaten." The church re- 
mains mostly in its own entrenchments of con- 
ventional practices and indifference to the un- 
saved young men. There is but one remedy for 
this present indifferent condition, and that is to 



214 BOYVILLE. 

be found in an awakening of consciousness of per- 
sonal responsibility for the salvation of the boy. 

We need a new doctrine, not a new law, that 
will bring people back to the Simple Life that de- 
mands some self-sacrifice. 

If we follow these teachings what shall be 
our reward? 

Do you remember what Pharaoh's daughter 
said when, winning that strange prize from the 
bulrushes, on the Nile; she called to the woman 
whose child might have perished ? 

Pharaoh's daughter said to the mother: 
"Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I 
will give thee thy wages," and that message is 
given as the crown of all motherhood on whom 
the divine mercy falls today. There comes this 
same message : "Take this child and nurse it for 
me, and I will pay the thy wages." 

The good that you have done you shall know, 
"not here, but hereafter." 

We should never forget that the best and 
truest lives are those who strew all the years with 
the sweet aroma of loving and self-sacrificing 
deeds. Did you ever go, in summer, to the great 
marshes of our fresh-water lakes, and in the little 
bayous, where the muck and grasses are so thick 



BOYVILLE. 215 

it is difficult to even row a boat ? If not, it will pay 
you to go. You find the white water lilies, dotted 
here and there all over this forsaken waste. They 
take root and grow silently amid the slime and 
mud in the quiet waters, until, in mid-summer, 
they open their creamy beauty to the persuasion 
of the sunshine, the glory and idealization of all 
flowers. ' So amid the lowest and poorest of hu- 
manity, among its shadows and mists, we can 
sow, day by day, our small seeds of gentle and 
generous deeds, not knowing when they take root, 
or expecting to ever behold their unfolding into 
the blossoms on the great river of time. 

To have a perfect government we must have 
a perfect people, and that cannot be accomplished 
unless we educate, unless we train, our boys in 
the right direction. If we do our share in this 
generation it will be easier for those who follow. 

The more you mingle among newsboys the 
easier it is to learn how to influence and guide 
them in the right path. 

They will open out to you a world you have 
never found, a world full of sunshine. If you are 
inclined to serve these boys, and are willing to 
try to teach them how to live right, you will build 



216 BOYVILLE. 

for yourself a crown of happiness in this world 
that all the wealth of a nation cannot purchase. 



CHAPTER XXXX. 

It is hoped that the preceding pages have 
given the reader some idea of the workings of 
Boyville, of the self-governing plan carried on 
successfully for many years. It has demonstrated 
the fact, to the president and his faithful associa- 
tes, the trustees, and the officers of the auxiliaries, 
that boys can govern themselves, that they can 
build up and carry on the work that has usually 
been done by older persons. Corporal punishment 
is not necessary and no arbitrary authority is 
needed. There is nothing compulsory about the 
entire work of the association. The simplest 
methods are always adopted, keeping in view the 
wishes of the boy. Not by advanced theories 
that reach beyond the comprehension of the boy, 
but by gradually introducing good principles that 
have a tendency to uplift the boy, and following 
as nearly as possible the lines he is interested in. 

Through the ever-willing assistance of the 
Humane officers, and later, the splendid work 
of the Juvenile Court, the association has been 
able to get behind the cause of much of the wrong- 
doing of the newsboys, by reaching their parents. 



218 BOYVILLE. 

Any good physician, to cure a disease, will make 
every effort possible to discover and cure the 
cause. There is an old saying: "A stitch in time 
saves nine." This is certainly true and applicable 
to work among newsboys. We agree with the 
many good things said and written by the late 
Samuel M. Jones, and this in particular: "The 
only way to help people is to give them an oppor- 
tunity to help themselves. " 

Our cities are full of boys growing up to man- 
hood without advice, without help. They are 
turned aside to do the best they can, to battle with 
life with everything against them. The question 
to thinking men today is, shall we permit these 
boys to continue on the certain road to ruin, or 
shall we turn a few steps out of our way to lend 
a helping hand ? Shall we wait until they become 
confirmed criminals and are serving sentences in 
prisons before we try to help them? 

It is much easier to save a soul in a healthy 
and satisfied, comfortable-feeling body, than in 
a body wasted by want and with a mind diseased 
by injustice, cruelty and wrong. 

The good accomplished by the members of 
The Boyville Newsboys' Association, we hope, 
will go on forever, and that this generation may 



BOYVILLE. 219 

prove the best and our people continue to be the 
most prosperous, and our boys grow up to be God- 
fearing, honest men, is the prayer of every man 
and woman of our land. But prayers will never 
be answered if we sit with our hands folded wait- 
ing for someone to do the work. 

In these hurrying days, when life is becoming 
complicated in so many ways; when the love of 
money is greater than the love of mankind, you 
wonder where can real happiness be found. 

Let us kindly suggest a new work, a new field 
of labor; a field that may test human goodness 
and human ability, but where you will reap more 
than riches, more than fame. 

Begin today, go out upon the streets, work 
among the newsboys, reach down to those below, 
and offer a hand to lift them up. Throw around 
them the proper protection and influence. In 
your own city, your own town, at your own 
doors, are acres of diamonds only waiting for 
you to help in the work of polishing. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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